Sorry, meant search this site. "Foam riser", "pink foam carving" etc. Basically, I used 1"thick pink foam from home Depot, glued three together to make an approximately 3" s-shaped incline and cut it with a foam wire cutter from Michael's (art/craft store). Nothing hi tech or prototypical about it. Just fun. You can see the Lionel fastrack riser in the background that I used for the decline, but that's mainly because it was around.
I wouldn't worry too much about switches, my son figured out the remote switch in two seconds. The fastrack ones auto switch if set wrong, so derailing isn't much of a problem. I have had issues with them, but more power related than anything. Well worth the entertainment value.
Eric Siegel has a great website and youtube channel, ericstrains.com that is an amazing resource. Erik Lindgren over on two rail scale forum shows how beautifully far you can take it.
