I began a HO layout nearly 40-years ago and laid quit a lot of the track on cork roadbed. Recently, I retrieved the layout from storage and resumed work on it. The older cork roadbed is .234" thick x 1-3/4" wide x 36" long. Recently, I purchased some cork roadbed to supplement the older roadbed. The new roadbed is 3/16" (.1875") thick x 1-3/4" wide x 36" long. As you can see there is a difference in the thickness dimension. Was the older roadbed originally 1/4" thick? Did the older roadbed shrink relative to the original over time? Was the original roadbed actually 3/16" thick? Did the older roadbed swell over time? I see 3/16" cork roadbed commonly available online. Is this a standard in today’s market? Is there 1/4" roadbed available anywhere? If I don’t find compatible roadbed anywhere, I’ll have to sand the older roadbed to feather it into a transition…Hope I don’t need to do this.
One possible remedy, although it’s a bit contrived, would be to get some thin cork “tiles” from office supply stores, such as Office Depot, the kind that you might put up in a kids room or for a message center- then cut strips of equivalent width to the new roadbed to adapt it to the older sections. The type I see at the office supply stores is definitely very thin, as I considered using it to build up platform bases for some of my structures, but found a thicker substitute with cork flooring underpayment in roll form at a home center. Cedarwoodron
Most likely, yes. It could be that it was supposed to be 1/4" thick, but that particular batch was a tad thinner.
Again, most likely. The older cork sometimes had a tendency to dry out.
I doubt it.
Again, I doubt it.
I’d say that’s a yes. Given that the price of cork has undoubtedly gone up over the years, this is one way to save on cost. Us modelers need our roadbed a fairly specific width, and we are accustomed to the standard 36" lengths, so they save on thickness.
I’m sure it is, but maybe not from a typical model railroad source.
[quote user=“bustedthumb”]
If I don’t find compatible roadbed anywhere, I’ll have to sand the older roadbed to feat
Yes when I retrieved my old circa 1960 4x8 train table from my folks’ house upon the death of my mother, I noticed that the old cork roadbed (and matching rubber roadbed, a short lived Atlas product from later in the 1960s) was a bit thicker than what is sold now. The track was long gone, and all that was left was the “ghost” of my old layout in roadbed. The cork was crumbly, the rubber roadbed ditto, but less so than the cork.
And when I took the entire train table apart to reuse the wood I learned something else – the size of 1x4 dimensional lumber as well as the 2x4 legs have changed in size since 1960, and the 5/8" plywood my dad used to build the table is thicker than today’s 5/8" plywood. So the thinner profile of today’s cork roadbed is in a sense part and parcel of an overall trend. I think old roadbed was indeed 1/4 inch.
It should be an easy matter to shim up modern roadbed where it meets old stuff, assuming you want to reuse it, and provided you allow for plenty of length to be shimmed rather than an abrupt bump.
Dave Nelson
Homabed - the Homasote product from California Roadbed - is available 1/4" thick. More expensive, but a very good product, especially if you want to spike your track, e.g., Walthers/Shinohara.
Dante
I was looking on E-Bay this morning for roadbed, and found many cases of both 1/4" and 3/16" roadbed for sale. Just go to E-Bay and enter HO roadbed. You will find both.