Roadbed Round Up

[Philip H]

With the first two benckwork sections now up, I'm headed to track work land.  So let's talk about our favorite roadbed. I have blue foam as a sub roadbed/scenery base, which I think means dispensing with splines.  I will probable NOT use roadbed on the whole thing to get a laid on the ground look for a couple of industries.  But for the Mainline its probably still useful.  So best I can tell that leaves:

• DKS style double sided mounting tape
• Old fashioned cork
• Woodland Scenics Foam Trackbed
• Homabed precut homosote (If the ever made N scale and I can find it)

What am I missing?  What's the consensus favorite these days? Other then cork what are people's experiences?

And GO!

[MVW]

I've been using the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed for about 6-7 years and have no complaints. For lower-profile passing tracks, etc., I use cork sheets, same as some people use for cupboard liners. I used to be able to find it with an adhesive backing at hobby stores, but that option wasn't at Michael's last time I looked. Industry tracks I usually lay directly on the ground ... er, pink foam.

Good luck!

Jim

[BCR 570]

Good Morning:

I used WS Foam Trackbed for my mainline and sidings.  It went down well with WS Foam Tack Glue.  I laid it on top of a 1/8" balsa sub-raodbed on the main and 1/16" in sidings.  I found that as it comes it was a little wide for my taste so I narrowed it by taking a bit off each inside edge.

I used sheet cork in the yards and it also went down well with the Foam Tack Glue.  I laid it directly on the Donna Conna benchwork top.  The only annoyance I had was that if I had to cut, frill or sand it I ended up with little bits of cork everywhere.

Other than that I have had no issue with either.  The earliest Foam Trackbed has been down since 2008; the cork dates from 2017.  Both are holding up well.

More here:  http://www.bcrdawsonsub.ca/index.php/construction/laying-track


Tim

[randgust]

After developing and witnessing some rather spectacular fails on my first layout and on a friends layout, I established the following....

1.  "L girder" benchwork made of 5/8 x 1 1/2 pine, simple grid, but a grid to attach things to, on 8" centers
2.   Vertical pine risers on 8" spacing to elevate anything above 'elevation zero'.
3.   horizontal 5/8 x 1" 'spline' of clear pine under any track area, connecting the vertical risers, to stiffen the roadbed.   Out of the way of switches in yards and sidings where possible (off-center).   Goal is to have clear access UNDER the roadbed on multiple levels with a strong support between risers.
4.   1/4" plywood cut on cookie-cutter basis on top of the spline
5.    Everything, and I mean everything, painted with latex paint of some color (black underneath, earth colored on top)
6.    Cork under the main lines only, glued down with carpenters glue  (the stuff does shrink if it's not glued, takes a while though).  Spurs and sidings right on plywood base (originally laid with C80, rework all done with Peco C55)
7.    Track laid and spiked down with track nails until ballasted
8.    Track nails removed after ballasting.

This is the original track plan, and some shots from '83 while under construction.   
http://www.randgust.com/atsfplan.htm

Scenery basis is still plaster hardshell for the most part.  It's pretty tough stuff.

You may differ with my design, but this layout was designed in 1983 and is still running today and has been successfully moved between 3 houses as no benchwork section was designed greater than 27x48" and everything including wiring was made separable at the section edges.   The only design flaw I've never beaten is the backdrop joints (painted masonite) that open up at the joints in the winter and close back up in the summer even with controlled humidity.  I've never beaten that, should have been vinyl or sheet plastic.

I've done 2 portable layout modules and five T-trak modules more or less on the same ideas, no foam, just not tough enough for me.   Even on the T-trak modules, I'm putting a vertical 1/4" plywood 'beam' under the main line to keep it stiff with 1/4" plywood on top.   The T-trak modules transition from Kato Unitrak to cork and Peco C55, same concept.

I'm not critical of anybody elses's approach EXCEPT that the worst fail I've ever seen in my life was that AMI black-rubber-tar stuff.   Wow, that was painful to watch effectively ruin a well-designed basement-sized layout of my friend.   Pulled loose, dried out, you name it.   Was great for about 3 years though.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I went through this same issue when I started building the coal country layout and ended up on good old cork, but with a twist.

The reason I went with it was because it's sandable. You can sand out humps, ooops, and other things to get a nice flat surface. I credit @Chris333 with pointing this out.

That said, I only use a single width under the track. Not because I'm cheap but because it gives me more control over my ballast profile. See: http://conrail1285.com/july-2017-york-progress-report/ and this handy image.

[Jbub]

I went through this same issue when I started building the coal country layout and ended up on good old cork, but with a twist.

The reason I went with it was because it's sandable. You can sand out humps, ooops, and other things to get a nice flat surface. I credit @Chris333 with pointing this out.

That said, I only use a single width under the track. Not because I'm cheap but because it gives me more control over my ballast profile. See: http://conrail1285.com/july-2017-york-progress-report/ and this handy image.

Did you use N scale or HO scale sub road bed?  I've heard of people using half of the HO scale for the extra height and dropping down to the n scale for sidings.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Did you use N scale or HO scale sub road bed?  I've heard of people using half of the HO scale for the extra height and dropping down to the n scale for sidings.

N. I didn't really want a lot of rise. In fact, I wish I had less. But ya work with what you've got.

[randgust]

Ed, I gotta poke you mildly on that one.   Your legacy and logging railroads might get away with that, but any modern main line with welded rail needs a good 6" shoulder at the tie edge to keep the sun kink problem under control. 

CSX had a nasty habit of putting welded rail on secondary branches in the early 80's without sufficient shoulder ballast and the sun kink problem has been there forever.  CVSR has had years of it.   So, I'd say it depends on your era, too.  There's a lot of lines out there drawn exactly the way you showed it though, particularly if it was constructed before steam-powered excavation equipment was used.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed, I gotta poke you mildly on that one.   Your legacy and logging railroads might get away with that, but any modern main line with welded rail needs a good 6" shoulder at the tie edge to keep the sun kink problem under control. 

CSX had a nasty habit of putting welded rail on secondary branches in the early 80's without sufficient shoulder ballast and the sun kink problem has been there forever.  CVSR has had years of it.   So, I'd say it depends on your era, too.  There's a lot of lines out there drawn exactly the way you showed it though, particularly if it was constructed before steam-powered excavation equipment was used.

Fair enough, but I'd MUCH rather control that with the ballast itself than being forced by the underlying support structure.

[CRL]

Contrary to others that model on pink or blue foam, I lay my track directly on a 1-1/2” layer of white beadboard styrofoam. I use Liquid Nails latex adhesive to Monday’s the track to the foam. I carve the foam roadbed by holding a very sharp blade at an appropriate angle of repose on each side of the track, letting the blade depth vary depending on how “high” I want the track to be above grade level. This makes it ridiculously easy to model the fills & cuts common to railroad construction over rolling terrain. After the cuts are made, simply use a wire brush to carve the foam away from the roadbed to form whatever rolling landscape you desire, leaving a perfectly formed roadbed of varying height.

[wm3798]

I'm a corker.  But then, we all know how I feel about doing things the old way...

I find it extremely user friendly, on foam base you can secure it with white glue, it can be fully cured, and you can still pop it up with a putty knife if you need to rework it.
You can sand it to lessen the profile, with the happy side effect of created bar ditches along the right of way if you also sand a bit of foam at the same time.  In my experience your ballast mixture and glue bonds better to cork than to the WS stuff, and it provides a more stable profile.

But that's just me...

Lee

[Bill H]

I have been using two layers of Midwest N scale cork, with the bottom layer set out a bit from the top. That reflects the cinders sublayer, then the ballasted layer above that was very typical B&O practice on the mainlines. i drop down to one layer for the sidings.

FWIW on the bottom layer, because the two parts of the Midwest have to be set apart, I fill the gap with scraps. The two different ballasts should be seen on the mainline of this module, and the two layers of cork roadbed in the second pic.

Kind regards,
Bill

[C855B]

You'll have to take my cork from my cold, ...   

I agree with Lee, for the same reasons. Slight difference is I now pre-sand the profile with a jig setup for the purpose on a small disc sander. Saves beaucoup time.

[DKS]

Being as I'm mention in the OP, I'd like to point out a few things. Double-sided tape has loads of advantages, and just a few disadvantages. First, the subroadbed must be nice and smooth and flat. Also, you'll need to pre-shape stiff flex before laying it, because once it's down, that's it. But you can lay track at a lightning pace, with no pinning the track temporarily, waiting for glue to dry, or etc., etc.. Plus you can lay track on just about any material--wood, expanded foam sheets, Gatorfoam, styrene, sheet metal, filler putty, whatever. And if you want a ballast profile, just trim the edges with a sharp knife. Finally, to keep turnout throwbars from binding, just apply a small strip of Scotch tape over the double-sided tape where the throwbar is.

I used cork for my retro layout, and all I can say is it was like stepping into the Wayback machine. I honestly don't see the appeal, and I would not go back--I used double-sided tape on my current layout, and if I were to build any more layouts, of any size, that's how I'd go, from here on out. But I also know that cork fans are just as adamant as I am about foam tape. It's all down to personal preferences, and that automatically levels the playing field.

[Lemosteam]

^^^^ THIS GUY ^^^^

He converted me to douple side tape long ago.  Love it.  I use a 3/4" wide roll and unlike David, I just use a utility knife to slice down the center of the roll as far as the blade will let me.  Then I uncoil it along my center-lines using the original uncut straight edge on the roll (cut edge along tie ends).  Lay down one side, and then uncoil it against the first strip.  One thing I really like is I can remove partial portions of the peel away as i run down the track curvature and instead of trying to follow my original centers I look at the track curvature as I go, pressing it to the tape firmly when I am satisfied.  If I press lightly, I can readjust as necessary. most of the time.

No glue for either the track or the tape.  Done.

Follow along the edge of the ties with an exacto into the foam and the tape peels awy from the base to leave room for any ballast profile one desires.