HO scale plain wooden roadbed by Truscale--Is it still being manufactured?

http://www.studebakerparts.com/
Here’s the link to the Studebaker parts…Wait…What was this thread about??[%-)]

I remember somebody used to make a wood roadbed with the ties already milled into it. Anyone remember that stuff?

Hey, loathar, pay attention! [swg][:D] That’s the stuff that we’ve been talking about. (Mostly)[;)] A short quiz may follow. [:D]

Thanks for the link to the Studebaker site, by the way. I have a couple of items to sell and was looking for a price reference.

Wayne

[:I] I didn’t know who made it. I thought I remembered seeing that stuff advertised into the late 80’s. ( I guess that is over 20 years ago though…God! I’m gettin old…)

Yes, the Old Dog remembers it. But the grain running the wrong way in the ties was bad news. And one has to ask if the wood would hold the rails in guage in humid whether.

But the Tru-Scale plain road bed was an useful product. But assuming one has access to a table saw and a band saw, one must question if it was worth the shipping costs. Also note that the product was limited to three foot lengths. The turnout blocks were ugly. But the Old Dog is glad to see that some of the products are still available.

Have fun

Fred, thanks for that link to the company that’s still making Tru-Scale. I note they are milling it out of basswood,which should be much more stable than the pine that was used in the original Tru-Scale roadbed. Looking at the those prices, though, the question, still comes to mind - why is it so much better than all the alternatives to command such a price differential?

Thanks to Fred Wright and his information I found where I can get Truscale roadbed. I really appreciate the information. Thanks to all who took the time to answer my forum question even those folks who were sarcastic. brownsvillekid

I never used the Tru-Scale roadbed myself, so I can’t comment directly. Until Homasote was heavily promoted in the '60s, most folks who handlaid track did so on some form of pine roadbed. Remember, at the time, the standard flex track was brass rail stapled (literally) to fiber ties strip. Those who wanted something better looking - more realistic ties or code 70 rail or similar - handlaid their track. Cork was/is almost always a disaster for those who tried to spike into it (I count myself among those).

Tru-Scale roadbed was pre-cut (not everybody owned power saws back then because of the high cost of power tools), and was even available with the self-gauging ties already milled in. And Tru-Scale turnouts with the unrealistic but extremely reliable pivoting frog/point/closure rail assembly gave the smoothest operation of any commercially available turnout at the time. The turnouts were available pre-mounted on the roadbed, or as kits for either the plain roadbed or self-gauging tie roadbed. All-in-all, it was a pretty decent track and roadbed system with lots of flexibility for customizing - but costly even back then. Tru-Scale track and roadbed was used in many of Model Railroader’s project layouts of the '50s. But when Atlas came out with their plastic tie flex track and Custom-Line turnouts at low prices, and were featured in the very popular early '60s project layouts, they drove the other track systems out of the market.

Even today, there are still folks who prefer to lay track on firm wood rather than on

It is no longer being manufactured, but -

SOME of it is still in stock @ http://www.troutcreekeng.com/bkho.html (who made TRU-SCALE track products).

BEST to call or write for availability and pricing of discontinued items.

Well, for what it’s worth…according to MR, Dec. 2006, p.68 - George Sellios of Franklin & South Manchester fame uses Tru-Scale milled pine roadbed.

exPalaceDog, here is the hot smokin’ dope; Tru Scale survived in San Dimas, Calif until '85 or ‘86’ or '87 I believe; Silver Streak wound up in the hands of Walthers I believe; I seem to recall that the millwork dies for the roadbed wound up in Olathe, Kansas; it may have been the owner there who tried to make a goal of it by converting from pine to basswood but nobody wanted the latter any better than current modelers - for the 1980s - wanted the former; I may been asleep at the switch - thats a railroad term, by the way - but I don’t remember when the residual stock of Tru Scale - whether pine or basswood - wound up in the hands of BK Enterprises but they sure seem to be having a hard time liquidating their stocks. I never did catch the link between Tru Scale switch kits and BK switch kits but I guess the linkage is logical!!!

First thing Wednesday AM you need to get your elevator serviced!!!

Not to deviate too much from this thread, but I think you answered a bizarre phenomenon I noticed with our GMC Yukon while on a trip along I-40.

At certain times when I would accelerate my radar detector would go off. It drove me crazy since I thought a cop might be hiding nearby waiting to get me. But there never were any cops. I never put two and two together, but perhaps this only happened when attempting to pass a slower vehicle in front of me. If so, my cars own radar trigged the radar detector [:(!]

Although I didn’t notice any lack in power perhaps there was a drop. I’m going to have to look into this more to see if there is a way to disable this stupid system.

I’ve been gone for awhile, but I can see that bad manners and churlish behavior are still very much a part of this forum!

Get an older car [;)].

There’s a lot of “improvements” in cars that, while optional now, are probably going to become permanent additions to cars in the future because people don’t know how (or care?) to do the simple car things anymore. I’m not saying that I do everything on time and perfect with my car, but I at least do the simple/routine checks once in a while (check the tires, check the oil, etc). Though I think that the current trend in american drivers (or americans in general) is that they want everything stupid-simple, and if it isn’t - it must be the manufacturer’s fault for making a defective

Personally, I find it fascinating that we model rails can grow passionate over products long gone. In my experience, the tru-scale stuff was a first rate solution if you wanted the look of handlaid track without messing with individual ties. The self gauging roadbed held guage pretty well and you could stagger your rail joints like on handlaid track. Don’t know about the warping issue with water based ballast glue. The roadbed was designed to be ballasted with a texture paint called “ready ballast” that was also used on the RTR version of this track, and didn’t look half bad.

These days I handlay most of my track, but still have a few of the tru-scal switch kits. All this discussion has made me nostalgic, and I may have to hunt up some self gauging roadbed and give it a whirl for old times sake. Judging by this thread it would be a conversation piece.

BTW old car fans may be interested to know that “Studebaker” is still slang in parts of the former USSR for excellent or first rate, based on their experience with lend lease trucks during the big one.

JBB

You are absolutely right! Why I keep allowing myself to get drawn into these petty little squabbles is completely beyond me.

Brings back memories, let me tell you…

Back in my first years as a model railroader, I bought a NEW copy of Kalmbach’s Small Railroads You Can Build. A great book by the late Linn Wescott - inspired many of my efforts early on. One or two of the articles (The Pine Tree Central and The Evergreen Central) used Tru-Scale roadbed and switch kits. I never saw any actual Tru-Scale roadbed with the milled ties, though.

Years later, around 1982, I aquired a large collection of models from an add in the local classifieds. I bought the entire lot for about $70. Once home with the mixed bag of “loot”, I discovered a brochure for Tru-Scale. I thought I was looking at something nostalgic from the 50’s, until I noticed the brochure had been printed in 1979! Just out of curiousity, I recently had searched the web, and came up with a couple of “hits” for Tru-Scale, but didn’t look any further.

Also interestingly, I was looking through a 2004 edition of the Walther’s catalogue, and couldn’t help but notice the striking similarity of the Alpine Division Scale Models structure kits to the old Suydam line, especially the classic “Purina Chows Feed Mill”…

I just saw a bunch of truescale wooden roadbed at Northend Trains in Seattle… call them… lots of it there in the ol’ cheapo bin!

Brian

My thanks to Brian for the tip about Truscale roadbed. I called them and bought all they had at $1 each. Anyone else got suggestions? brownsvillekid


Glad to help! I will keep my eyes peeled for more :slight_smile:

Brian

As to who would use this roadbed, my Santa Fe buddy here in Kansas City, Chuck Hitchcock, used it on the old Argentine Div. of the Santa Fe before he tore it down to build the new switching district. It performed well, and we had many good op sessions on that layout.

Bob