Well, that really derails (ha!) my plans. I place an initial order a few weeks ago, and today I got an email saying they are shutting down permanently. I was given the option of having my order completed, or getting a refund.
I see two things: Get this order, and hope someone else picks up making the same homasote roadbed products real soon, or take the refund and go back to using cork.
I do not have, nor do I want to buy, the tools needed to make this myself. It’s not just the angle cuts for the shoulder, it’s the milling of each piece to a uniform thickness. Also a reason I don;t want to just cookie cutter homasote and put it on top of plywood, and then use cork or something.
Just very bad timing, since the day I can start building is getting closer and closer.
Yup. I have an order in for about 80’ of roadbed and some turnout pieces. I don’t want to do half and half (more like 20/80 is you figure the upper deck too), so I’m leaning towards just getting cork again.
Noticed their Ebay listings have permanently ended.
I figured Sheldon bought everything they had!
Too bad they are closing. BTW, I have about 30 feet of the product, and its a little bit lighter weight and maybe less dense thean what I expected. Not sure if I would have used more of it.
I have the branchline low profile product so I’m just going to use it for sidings and spurs.
It’s homasote. It’s less dense then cork, which if put on top of something denser, like plywood, is why it deadens noise so well. It’s not so much the material, it’s the difference in density of multiple materials at the interface between the two - unless you nail it all together which in a large part defeats the purpose.
I was just at the point when, per their stated lead times, I was going to get a shipping notification. Instead I got the closed notification. Same text appears if you go to their web site now as well.
I can hope someone else steps in, he did with the California Roadbed guy had to quit (the original Homa-bed) and then improved on it by making the various thicknesses and also with proper slopes as well as 45 degree slopes to match with cork.
I ordered some of their main line 30 degree shoulder, both plain and curvable, and a few turnout pads, #6 and #8 for Peco.
I will need a LOT more of the main line, and a bunch of the branch line as well for sidings, yards, and the branches. A LOT more than my initial order was for.
I do not have a table saw. And push sticks or not, small pieces that close to the blade are kind of dangerous. You need to add a few things to make most saws safe to handle narrow pieces.
Plus there is one other thing - homasote sheets are not even from edge to edge. The Cascade product and the Homabed before it was milled to a uniform size.
For the effort - it’s going to be just easier to use cork. Unl;ess someone else takes over the business very soon. Or there is some announcement soon. If I go ahead and have them make my order, and then no one takes over, I have a section done with one material and the majority will end up being cork anyway. If I have them cancel and refund, I can oder cork (for less) and end up with everything uniform.
Hmm, looks interesting. And it says he will do custom widths and large mats for yards.
Did you get it yet? Impressions?
I was looking for other information on it, all I can really find is it being sold EVERYWHERE. And I found a patent application for foam roadbed for model trains. Gave me a company name - turns out it’s the actual name of Woodland Scenics. Expired in 2018 - could be why this stuff has now appeared.
I’m willing to give it a try, somewhere in between cork and WS foam would be just about right.
Long before Homabed, way back in the dark ages of model railroading during the 1960’s and 1970’s, modelers who were hand laying track learned about the benefit of homasote as a roadbed material.
They typically used it in 1/2" or 3/4" thickness, cut it in strips, or “cookie cutter” style, and then beveled the edges by various means.
They would then use Campbell profile ties and hand lay track. The roadbed holds spikes well, yet is easy to spike into.
Then later a commercial version appeared - Homabed. When that guy retired, the Cascade guy bought the line, and improved it and added more products.
I just ordered it. 60 ft. Hopefully its denser than WS, as its advertised to be so. Like you said, if its between cork and WS for hardness, it may be about right.
I’ve got a little bit of WS foambed around here, I’ll give it a thumb press comparison when it gets here.
I used to like homasote for for subroad bed and still use it for large areas like yards. A friend of mine introduced me a product called flexxbed which I have used for my current layout and my previous one. It is flexible enough to bend around curves and has good flex but is much stiffer than WS foam roadbed.
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