roadbed, yes or no?

[trmwf]

Since narrow gauge is supposed to look kind of "not very well maintained" do you guys still use the cork roadbed to help deaden the sound or put the track right on the plywood and suffer the noise?  If you  do use the cork how do you make it look not so class 1-ish and hide the elevation?

Thanks
Mike

[Woody Elmore]

Don't attach track directly to plywood - it acts like a drum head. The friends I have who model in On3 or On30 use rigid styrofoam (the blue or pink stuff) for roadbed. One uses track from Peco,attached with silicone, and the other hand lies his track, gluing the ties directly to the foam.

I have a small module with homasote for the roadbed. It has a couple lengths of HO track-I simply buried the ties so that only the railheads are visible. Next module will have handlaid code 83 rail.

[japasha]

I use styrofoam as well but also use N scale cork roadbead against the edge of my PECO track to make the soil/roadbed appear be level with the top of the ties.  I have been switching from PECO to handlaid for the past year and use ties glued to the styrofoam that are half-thickness to reduce overall height. I like this method as the trackwork looks backwoodsie but works very well.

I have tried sanding the PECO ties down but that's a lot of work that's better  not done. 

I have conventional cork roadbed in some areas and that works fine. Noise is a big factor in any model railway. I recall that Lionel kept the tubular track because it added to the railroad noise kids expected.

[ebtnut]

Aside from maybe some logging or mine track, virtually all track begins with some degree of "roadbed", if for no other reason than to control water drainage.  Now, over time if the railroad is impecunious, the roadbed will tend to flatten out as the drainage cuts alongside the track begin to fill in.  Yards may or may not have drainage swales in them, mostly depending on the size and importance of said yard.  But as a general rule, the track should be elevated at least a bit above the surrounding land.

[trmwf]

I've been reading a lot of stuff on On30 in this and different forums.  One thing seems to stick out and that is the use of homisote.  Another is putting your track directly on the blue foam.  My n scale layout had blue foam board and plywood in spots with cork roadbed everywhere and I could sure tell the difference when the trains where traversing the blue foam board.  It was a lot louder than the plywood portion of the layout.  Further, it seems like there was always a lot of negative talk about homisote in other scale forums due to expansion and contraction with the weather conditions causing track troubles.

Wonder why the differences in preferences.  Perhaps because On30 is larger and the track more forgiving of shifting.  I can see where noise could become an issue with the larger trains so I think I will take everyones advise and go with the cork roadbed then try to hide some of the "well maintained"  look.
Thanks
Mike

[OldStone]

Mike:

I cover the plywood with Homosote (glue or drywall-screw) and fasten the track to that.  Homosote (at Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) holds nails much better than cork and probably deadens sound better....it's thicker.

Cheers

[GovB]

Has anyone tried Track-Bed? It's on page 10 of the 2008 Woodland Scenics' 2008 catalog. It "reads" like good stuff. Or something like it?

BovB 

[Woody Elmore]

Homasote takes glue and spikes nicely if you are into handlaying ties.

I used to cut cut it into four feet long strips on a table saw for our former club layout. Then I set my radial arm saw to about 22 degreees to bevel the edges. Switches were done by splitting the roadbed and adding a wedge. To curve it we repeatedly cut into it the strip from the side so that it looked like a big comb. These cuts were then filled in. We used to laminate the homasote onto a spline system so that we really had no flat top tablework (except the yard.) It also expands and contacts. I used to fill the gaps with a slurry of homasote dust and white glue.

Homasote is newsprint with little pieces of steel wool fibers in it. It is very messy to cut with power tools and it quickly blunts the blade. for a home layout I would use a small jig saw. Wearing a mask is a necessity.

If I had to do it over again I'd use styrofroam with silicone to hold down the trackage.

[ebtnut]

It is at least partly what folks are used to using.  Homasote was the accepted roadbed material for decades because it had some sound insulating properties, held spikes and nails well, and had some flexibilty.  Yes, it does tend to shrink and swell a bit, depending on the humidity, though the benchwork in general is subject to the same problems.  Some folks paint their Homasote before laying it down, which helps to seal it from moisture.  Incidentally, per Woody's comments regarding filling the gaps, I always used a craft product called Celluclay which looks, for all intents and purposes, like ground up Homasote.  It comes in plastic bags, and has a water-soluble glue in it.  Add water to make into a paste, and apply where and as needed. 

[OGReditor]

I'm in the process of building an On30 layout--a small mining and logging pike.  My track will be mounted on Woodland Scenics foam roadbed, although the roadbed itself will likely not be very visible in certain areas of the layout later on where I want to represent hastily laid narrow gauge track.

I'll be using Atlas Code 83 HO track as a temporary measure (before any ballasting) and plan to replace it with Micro Engineering On30 track when the budget permits.  Having plenty of the Atlas track already on hand, and with a real desire to have some trains up and running so I can play a bit, I can live with the visual disparity for a while without any problem.  Once all my Micro Engineering track is in place and I'm satisfied with the arrangement and operation, I'll go ahead and ballast everything.

[Steve Magee]

There is a local (Aust) product called 'Abelflex', it is a strip of foam, charcoal in colour, about 1/2" thick, in widths from 2" to about 8". It is used as a concrete joint expansion gap filler. Comes in rolls of about 60 feet (20 meters). It curves nicely and the top surface doesnt distort or become uneven on the up to 4" wide strip I have used on a 30" radius. The 2" stuff I have curved down to 18" with no distortion. It absorbs sound well and, using ballast glued in space with another local product (Bondcrete) even remains flexible in that the track can be easily compressed with your hand.

I don't know what the US equicalent to these might be, but worth a look around.

Steve Magee
Newcastle NSW Aust