re fast track trestle 12037

12037 is the graduated trestle set. It creates and incline/decline to 6.5"

Why, Lionel of course 6-12037. Lionel rises to 5 1/2". MTH to 6.5" 40-1113 You can use their set also. Block piers.

Yes thanks for the height details.

my question is from the first raiser to the last raiser what is the lenght. (Min distance   of the whole  trestile 

6 feet , or is it 4 feet or is it  12 feet of. Track needed to go up  max height and to come back down again 

from my understanding is each pier is set at 10 inches apart. so lets say 6 piers x 10 inch's would be 60 inches up and 60 inches down for total of 120 inches or 10 ft. so there's 11 up in that set and 11 down in that set so 110 inches up and 110 inches down so that's 220 inches for 18.333 ft. but you can set them closer it just makes the incline steeper.

A couple things:

1. Its a very steep incline, a loco withoput cruise will have trouble climbing it , then race down the downward side.

2. Its also a very flimsy setup, if not reinforcing it some way with wood its not something I'd run a heavy diecast loco

    over as it reliies almost soley on the fastrack itself for strength.    

thanks ,I need a bigger basement extend the dinner room table thats the answer.

When it comes to changing elevation, the more gentle the grade, the better for your trains. You should also consider the effect of curved track on the grade.

I have a very steep 5% grade, with a 90 degree 048 curve. this causes problems for long trains. A larger radius is better, and a sharp 036 can be a serious issue.

Your layout size will determine if you need the grade to include a curve. The more gradual the grade, the better, and the larger the curve radius the better.

One of my grades has two 90 degree curves with a 5% grade, and this limits my maximum train length to about 10 cars. Anything longer will have the train on both curves at the same time, causing high side forces that result in frequent derailments.

If you post your layout with the location of the grade shown, then that would help with comments.

Good luck: Joe K

I could be wrong, but there is no set distance for a trestle, it all depends on what grade you want to use; 2%, 3%, 4% or anywhere in between. For example, using 10' to rise the MTH 6.5" creates a grade of 5.4% whereas using 20' cuts the grade in half to 2.7%. Changing the height to the Lionel 5.5" reduces the grades to 4.6% and 2.3% respectively.

DoubleDAZ posted:

I could be wrong, but there is no set distance for a trestle, it all depends on what grade you want to use

There are metal "supports" that bridge that spans from pier to pier. If using the trestle set as "designed" the length is as JHainer stated above.

Going with your own wood supports would allow you to customize the trestle to any distance and offer a more rigid setup.

thanks for the replies , At the moment  ,the trestle will not fit into my small set up .

Peterallen,

Well, MTH sells the 40-1070 Over/Under Tunnel that fits a track plan of 031 on a 4 x 8 space. The 4.7% grade is ok for non-scale trains. The length required comes from curves, not a long straight run.

All of the postwar Lionel Dealer Displays had grades of 4.7% when magnetraction came out.

You can do the same thing with FasTrack. A little larger area and you could use O36.

See the brochure.