Our moving plans have changed, and I am staying in my home on a steep hillside.
The yard uphill of the house is terraced, and I’d like to use a set of terraces that are about 12 feet different in elevation, with about a 100% grade between them. Of course, a straight track is entirely out of the question, and that is a heckuva lot of helix, if we go that way (300 feet of track at a 4% grade, I reckon).
Which leads to the thought of a train elevator. There’s an unused access shaft (just barely big enough for a loop, so it could house a helix if needed) to the north of the site. I could put a section of track in there and move it up and down to change levels. I’ve seen this kind of thing for N and HO, and, apart from power needs, it seems like it would be easier in large scale because of bigger dimensions and therefore looser tolerances.
Any of you-all tried this?