MikeH and Adriatic,
Many thanks! Your words of wisdom have made me realize my multiple errors and exposed me as a carpet loop runner with delusions! :-) I took out a tape measure (duh!) and realized that one of my dimensions is limited to 5'. A little math and I realized that rising just 10" using a 5' loop puts me at almost 7 degrees of incline! BTW, my tree is artificial and the x-shaped stand footprint is 21" diagonal.
I think what I'll do is create a 3' x 5' elevated platform out of foam (5 x 2" thicknesses) with a 3" hole in the top layer to allow the "trunk" to pass through. I can then put a variant of the attached layout up top. The platform can have two portals and a connecting tunnel (around the back of the tree stand) to allow for the base level train to run a loop on a 5' x 5' square.
Thoughts? Thanks again!
