Building a Helix

My helix will consist out of 8 pieces of 4mm thick plywood , that together form an octagon, much easier to saw then round pieces with almost no waste of wood.

Using the first piece as a jig I'm making 58 pieces to make 7 1/4 loops.

First loop with the ramp starting on the right side , each loop will climb 6,5 cm in about 260 cm of length making a gradient of 2,5% , with a radius of 16 inches , in total climbing 18 inches. Almost all my engines , except for maybe a UP Big Boy and Challenger should be able to cope with this.

The loops still missing a straight piece in between to connect them , after that is done I will begin with the risers.

First loop done.

Ready to caulk down track.

Second loop with track weighted down while drying.

Slowly but surely to the top.

A schematic of the Helix , both levels have track going to a staging area. Lower level has track to east and west of the layout , upper level only to east.

Helix is finished , now to figure out where I need auto-reversers.

I tested the helix with 3 different sized and motorized engines , some small problems at first but a couple of hours of adjusting and fiddling did the trick.