Midwest cork roadbed poorly cut

[Sokramiketes]

Group:
Just to be real clear, I am not referring to the rough cut on one side. I laid a lot of Midwest cork with a rough cut, with a nub, with an unfinished bevel. I am referring to the simple fact that one side is wider than the other, and thus the centerline is moved.

Kind regards,
Bill

I don't think I've ever seen a piece with the cut in the true center.  I've used Charlie's method for the last 20 years, so it's been at least that long that things have been off center. 

[Bill H]

I don't think I've ever seen a piece with the cut in the true center.  I've used Charlie's method for the last 20 years, so it's been at least that long that things have been off center.

Mike:
Rather begs the question, some can whine incessantly about three rivets in the wrong place on a hood unit and yet accept a fundamentally flawed product literally at the very heart of our hobby.

I had bought a large stock of Midwest cork roadbed over twenty five years ago while living overseas, as buying and shipping in quantity made a lot of sense at that time, so I had not seen the current production runs until I ran out of that old stock and had to resupply. I can't blame my pusher, if this is simply how it is with Midwest products. I've got over 150 feet of mainline track to lay in the next six months, and the idea of fudging everything, or manually re-cutting the roadbed is not terribly appealing considering I paid good money for bad product. So much for my rant, but I am going to reach out to Midwest - just for the heck of it.

Kind regards,
Bill

[MK]

All of my remaining ones that I bought 15 years ago were not cut center line.  When I laid them down, I did a "mental offset" to the drawn line on the foam.

 I would be interested in what Midwest has to say.

[MetroRedLine]

Yeah, not a new thing. Most of my roadbed was bought in 2007 (I use both WS foam trackbed and Midwest cork roadbed). Fortunately, once it's all ballasted, you couldn't tell anymore.

[John]

I do remember back in the late 70s that the cork was much neater than it is now .. so Bill H has a point .. but it's never been to the point where I couldn't use the product as intended .. considering its a product made from trees,  it all has to be sanded anyway to smooth out  ..

[ncbqguy]

That is another benefit from using the unerlayment or bulletin board cork.  It is much finer grained compared to the roadbed cork.  It rarely requires sanding.
Charlie Vlk

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This is why I use only one strip under my track. Let the ballast form its own profile.

[OldEastRR]

Seems to me I talked about this problem with this roadbed some time back on TRW, and was pooh-poohed by the wiser heads who implied I didn't know what I was talking about.

But I guess if you're one of the TRW "cool kids" everybody pays attention to what you say.

[dem34]

Seems to me I talked about this problem with this roadbed some time back on TRW, and was pooh-poohed by the wiser heads who implied I didn't know what I was talking about.

But I guess if you're one of the TRW "cool kids" everybody pays attention to what you say.

As conflict interference, when was it? The culture has of course shifted a little over the last couple years. I mean back when I first made my account it wasn't unusual for all out brawls to form over which size of styrene somebody used on a downspout.


Back on topic, thats why I started to use grades of Ballast. Use the cheapo crap as a filler and to form profiles, then layer over the good ARM stuff.

[Bill H]

Group:
I spoke with Midwest about the problem and it was escalated up to the production supervisor. As I sent them a photo of the poor cut, it was hard for them to deny. However, they also noted that they are out of cork from their supplier and not expecting any resupply until perhaps June, so for the moment the matter is unresolved.

As I don't want to wait until June, I decided to free hand cut 1/16th off of the piece that is too wide, so that it will match the other piece that is less wide. Doing that allowed me to lay the cork on the centerline in my plans, and then to lay the track on top, using the centerline of the cork as a guide.

Kind regards,
Bill