LEGO Trains are lovely. Their tracks are lovely, but I really miss the possibility of making several levels circuits ( btw check this Top 10 LEGO Trains list). At first, being new to LEGO, I though that maybe there was a special part to create slopes much like the one that exists for LEGO Duplo. But it looks like there isn’t. Someone show me a train diorama with several levels where the inclines were created with the ground that was done with some kind of sintetic material and the LEGO tracks simply lay over it. It was nice, but I want to buld my slopes out of LEGO bricks. So here it is how I did it. So, being an engineer myself…, the first thing I do was built directly without any plans or measures, just using common sense and LOTS of LEGO Tracks. Yes, it works but I wasn’t happy at all with the result. If you notice the track isn’t continuos and it has bumps that make the train jump and the downside of the incline was too step so the train gets too much speed.
So, time for a bit of maths. Let me show you the video and I explain later what I did and how I did.It is nice but still you see the train derails on corners and takes a bit of problem climbing. Here it is all the HOWTO and then I explain you a few tips to make it work. There are two concepts that we really want to apply to our inclines building technique: continuity and incline angle. I promise to be light and readable. We don’t want huge changes in the slope because it would add dangerous bumps into the track that will surely make our train derail… and trust me that you don’t want to kill all those innocent LEGO minifigs So the slope has to change slowly. Using the LEGO System we have two different measures, the brick and the plate, were three plates are one brick. So the only way to do a smooth transition is using at first one plate, two plates and finally one brick on the three first tracks… and keep that method for the rest of tracks… too many tracks don’t you think?
So this introduce us the slope angle. Now we have to define how step is our incline. The higher the more difficult would be for our train to climb it. I have been told on several forums that I should just add another motor to the train and problem solved… that’s one way, the other is just use more tracks and make the angle smallers. Conventional trains must not travel on slopes bigger than 3%, that’s means that the train should never climb more than 3 metres vertical each 100 meters horizontal. To know the angle you just need to compute the arctan of B/A. Personally, I decided that the angle approach was pointless as I wasn’t able to use 60 straight tracks to get my train up and down… so instead I just decide that I want to climb 12 bricks high using 16 straight LEGO Train tracks. If you see the above diagram you will see that it is pretty straightforward to compute how tall each track must be. It is just constant to (A/B)=(C/D) Watch the video of it working and a bit below you have the PDF with all the values and a Excel sheet in case you need to change the values.
It really depends on the trains you are using, but a common number is between 14 and 16 bricks tall. So if you do the basic match, each straight track is 16 studs long, an each stud is 8mm long, while the brick is 9.6mm high so… To climb 14 bricks with a 3% incline we need…35 straight tracks to climb safely to 14 bricks high. No, I am not mad… I don’t have the 4.5 meters needed for this, so even forget about the tracks, you would need 35 to climb and another 35 to go down. That’s the price of perfection… So as you are perhaps as limited by constraints like room and tracks as me, use this Excel sheet. Using the above principles, you just write how many tracks do you want to spend and it will give you the height in bricks and plates of each of the pillars. I have done a PDF for 12 bricks height and 16 tracks long. You will save time and mental health if you build two pillars of each height, that way you will have done the up and down inclines. Keep in mind that you will also need a good amount of LEGO bricks to build the pillars.
One option that I have used it making part of them out of LEGO Duplo bricks. You will save lots of bricks that way, although the result isn’t as good. I built them using the LEGO Digital Designer for climbing 12 bricks of height in 16 tracks. That’s a mean slope of 3.5º. Yes, in fact that’s what I did on my second approach. But keep in mind that the slope with curved tracks must be even softer than with straight tracks or the train will derail and fall from the track. I haven’t really tried it myself but the accepted agreement here is that no, you need at least one flat track before a switch track or the train will derail. When everything else fails just go to The LEGO Shop and order another motor, they are just 12€ each. Hope this little tutorial help you in building multilevel LEGO Train tracks. If you have a question, write it in a comment and I will have a look to it as soon as possible. If you enjoyed this HOWTO it please share it. Related Posts :HOWTO Mount your GoPRO HERO on a LEGO vehicle The Best LEGO Trains Videos from Youtube How To Make LEGO Train X-Cross Track LEGO 7937 Train Station Review
I recently got my first train set, the Constitution Chase, and it has sparked my imagination for building train layouts. My 3-year-old son has a small collection of wooden trains and we enjoy building tracks together. His tracks include cross-overs, switches, and bridges, and I know there is a wide range of products in that family that we could pour money into: elevated tracks, etc. However, now that the Lego train has invaded our home, I feel that we'd be better served building Lego layouts. that there are straight, curved, flexible, and switch tracks available for purchase now. However, there doesn't seem to be any of the following currently for sale: cross-overs (there was a 9V crossover at one point) bridges (presumably, we just build whatever bridges we need, whatever way we want) double switches (There was one for sale a few years back, but it's extremely expensive now) So, given the rather limited track selection, but the otherwise infinite flexibility of Lego, is it possible to build what's missing?
Can cross-overs or double-switches be built from parts? Can PF trains climb sloping tracks, or go down inclines (and how do we make the track incline properly)? Is there an easy way to achieve a figure-8 track layout? Bonus points for solutions that stick to System pieces instead of Technic pieces, since I have more System than Technic. I am, however, willing to buy parts as needed (except that double-switch, yikes it's expensive). Since your question seems to be more about what is possible with LEGO, and not really layout examples, I'll focus on what LEGO trains can do. You can do most things that you can do with traditional model railroads using LEGO trains. This includes cross track, bridges, switches, and inclines. As far as I know, this was never released for either RC or PF trains. As you noted, there was a cross track part for the 9V trains. If you aren't aware, 9V, RC, and PF track is mechanically compatible, the only difference is that 9V track has metal rails.
If you don't mind the look of metal rails on your cross track when the rest of your track is plastic, the 9V crossing should work fine. You are correct that there aren't dedicated train bridges. You are left to build whatever you like. You can make anything from a simple bridge that just holds up the track like this one based on the Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder's Guide (source): Or you can create something elaborate like this bridge from the 2006 NMRA show: LEGO does not produce sloping track for the common train gauge. There is sloping track for the 4-stud gauge, but I doubt you will have much use for it. Aside from the tiny gauge, it is also too steep to climb for normal trains. Here's what it looks like: Monorails did use sloped track, so if you don't mind mixing those into your layout, they could be an easy option. Here's an example of elevated track from 6399: You can also build your own inclines, but keep in mind that it takes quite a bit of space.
You can't do much more than 2 plates of incline per track section for most trains. Each era of trains has had switches, so this is not an issue. Other than the one you mentioned, I don't think this has ever been released before. It seems like it would be pretty difficult to build custom track from parts, and this would very challenging to build. Sets often come with example layouts including which track pieces that you need. Here's one example from an old 12V set: Here's a similar example from a 9V set: I'll just leave you with this cool 12V layout video. You can create crossover tracks out of LEGO elements much like I did in this video. I got all the parts for around 4€ Also you can create your own slopes will standard LEGO tracks. /watch?v=LMWF465KWfY and read about how to create them yourself at The Technic Gear. My advice is just take a sheet and think and draw before start building. The crossover hasn't been done in RC track, but a 9V crossing will work just fine, as PF and RC track are physically compatible (the only difference being the lack of conducting metal on PF track, which is a problem only when using 9V motors).
LEGO never produced specific bridges, which makes sense since everyone builds his own. The closest thing would be Heavy hauler, which contains ready-made bridge elements - but that's the upper decoration only, you'd still need to build a sturdy structure under it. Another reason why LEGO probably never made any is that they'd also need to take sloping into account, and it would mean a set containing way too much track. The Duplo and monorail slopes can be very steep because the trains use gears on a rack, but a regular LEGO train will need a way more gentle slope. Some people recommend no more than 1 plate every track piece; 1 brick is really pushing it (depending on your train), and more is certainly not a good idea. Even with 1 brick every track piece, you'll only get 8 bricks higher every meter. Not a problem if you've got the bricks and track, but it makes sense that LEGO wouldn't produce a full slopes/bridge set. Sloping by itself isn't required either, as the slope has to be gentle, the existing track will easily accommodate the connections.
There you'll certainly need to limit the slope change to no more than one plate per track part. For example, if you really want to have a slope of 1 brick per track, you'll need to start with 1 plate, then only 1 brick (+2 plates) and 2 bricks (+3 plates). Same thing at the top, so if you go to 10 bricks for example, the heights of your pillars will be: ...0, 0, 0, 1 plate, 1 brick, 2 bricks, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 bricks and 2 plates, 10 bricks, 10, 10, ... Note that if you don't care about that, the flex-track piece is very flexible in that regards too. When LEGO introduced RC track, one of their arguments was that they would be able to do much more fun stuff with track, which they immediately demonstrated with the double-crossover switch, and later with the flex-track, but unfortunately they haven't really followed suit on that topic. Probably trains aren't such a big market for LEGO (that's the reason they stopped 9V to start with). And you didn't read this from me, but RC track is easier to mod than 9V track...