Clearly, the trestle bents were never meant to become trestle spans but we had to support the very steep grade for what will become a cog aka rack and pinion climb. At the end of the hill climb area, the track must turn about 160 degrees through a very tight turn. Trains do not like steep hills or tight turns. Here we have both. The cardboard is being used as a template for [plywood support the curved track areas.
Here the plywood curved track is in place and now need to prototype run a real train around it.
A longer shot showing how it will all come together. The curved bridge spans, where the track will be laid, was purchased off Facebook in Alabama. That is another road trip to be covered in another area of this blog. You can see the track departing up the hill from another rescued layout found on Offer Up. More on that road trip also on this blog.
We are still working on the bridge at the top of the hill on the corner. Off to Nashville tomorrow to pick up a bridge off Craigslist that may fit the bill.