One thing that bothered me on the former layout was that the curves were flat, while there is usually some 'banking' on real railway lines, especially in Germany, to provide more comfort for passengers on trains traversing the curve at a decent speed. When I first laid track, I figured it wasn't 'a big deal', and didn't bother to look for a solution. But over time, that little detail began to bother me as I watched trains enter and exit curves. Again on the new layout I initially decided that super elevated curves weren't really necessary, and I left them out of my planning. But again, over time it annoyed me, so it was time for a solution.
The images above show the only location on the layout in need of super-elevation. It's where the trains come out of the tunnel, and where the last of the curve straightens onto the parade section. I won't be super-elevating the curves approaching the station, because trains are speed restricted in the station area already.
I picked up some N-scale roadbed made by Woodland Scenics at the local hobby shop. I figured it was thin enough so I could experiment with multiple pieces, it's flexible, and will even help with some sound dampening.
Here you can see the roadbed, provisionally placed under the track. Initially I tried placing a pair of roadbed pieces on top of each other, but the banking was too extreme. After all, I didn't want this to look like a modern TGV line with trains running at 300 kph through the curve. So this is the modest banking I decided on, using a single strip of N-scale roadbed.
With the piece of N-scale roadbed now installed, you can see how the locomotive has a gentle 'lean' to it when compared to the first pictures in this post. I also super-elevated the other track, and the results are exactly what I was hoping for as trains go into and come out of the curve.
The next step has already begun, at least in a test phase- the ballasting! Stay tuned...
