I am almost ready to start laying track for the hidden lower return loop + 5 staging tracks on the layout I am building. I’m wondering whether it would be best to lay the track directly on the 3/4" plywood base subroadbed, or install 1/2" homasote on the 3/4" plywood and then track, or some other alternative?
Thanks for any tips/advice.
I would say to keep it the same as your mainline roadbed and prevent any grade transitions. Mine are all samo samo.
Mel
Modeling the SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I installed my hidden staging on homasote sandwiched to half inch plywood using drywall screws. I painted the homasote first on both sides, so it would resist moisture and make it easy to draw track centerlines on for laying the track.
I would rather drive track nails or spikes into homasote than plywood and I prefer not to use adhesives because I find I often need to revise some portions of track as I am layint it or working on the layout. I could be wrong but trains running on the homasote seem to be quieter than directly on plywood too.
My lower staging yard is directly on the plywood. I don’t claim it to be better, but it was certainly easier and cheaper which are characteristics I always look for when it doesn’t make a difference in appearance or operation.
I’m using Homosote roadbed from Cascade Rail Supply. They sell transition sections that go from zero to the full height of the roadbed which make it easy to get up and down.
I’m also using biscuit joints to connect sub-roadbed sections. I have found it easy to create an offset joint that allows roadbed and no-roadbed sections to meet nicely.
My layout is all set on 2-inch pink foam. My hidden staging tracks, or what will become hidden staging tracks once I build the scenery to hide them, are simply laid on the foam and pinned in place with U-shaped pins I make by opening up paper clips. If I ever decide to make changes, it’s easy and the track will still be like new.
Thanks for all the replies so far.
More background information.
The mainline and branchline roadbed will be a mixture of (some) 3/16" homabed, and (mostly) WS foam roll. The yards will be 5/8" plywood and 1/2" homasote. Flat terrain areas (non yard) will be 5/8" plywood and 1" pink foamular foam.
I’m not worried about matching profile heights for the hidden return loop because it the mainline descends from 42" down to 38" for the hidden return loop/staging and the branchline that services the city above the lower return loop ascends from 42" to 44".
At this point I’m leaning towards plywood->homasote->track because I have dealt with this combination previously.
Any other comments/tips are greatly appreciated.
Hi,
My current and previous layout had lower level staging/storage trackage that was/is somewhat difficult to get to in places. My goal in building it was to keep it’s propensity for derailments down to zero. In that light, the lower level trackage is installed on the same combination (cork over ply) as the main level.
So far, no derailments on the current lower level after 5 years…
Speaking of derailments, for my staging, in addition to my homasote on plywood (rather OSB), I added rerailer track sections to each side of my double ended staging to help keep trains on the track in the event wheels came off as trains were moving through.
Here are photos of both ends of staging before I built over it (some test trains on one end):
And another photo showing the upper level going in over that same area:
So basically there is two re-railers on each section of track, one on each end with a long section of straight in the middle.
I’ll second that. Every time I have a track go out of sight, I stick in a rerailer. Of course I really don’t need them because my track work is perfect [:D], I just feel better with the old belt and suspenders.
For the most part my netherworld trackage differs from my visible track in only one way. Visible track is (or will be) ballasted.
However, there are a couple of places in the netherworld where track is laid, not on plywood but on pine one-by. I repurposed a couple of old display/storage shelves as hidden staging yards. Other than requiring a bit of inventive height matching they are satisfactory in their new role. There are a couple of pieces of heavy angle iron screwed to the underside of the one that wanted to cup.
I like to use spikes to lay rail on pine. Plywood isn’t spike friendly.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
For unseen or staging track I just nail Peco Streamline flex track directly on to MDF, though to be fair I also predrill the holes for the track nails.
[2c] Cheers, the Bear.
The homasote accepts spikes or Atlas track nails without pre-drilling [;)] - easy peazy!
You get 100% of My vote! [Y]
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
Admittedly it was a quick search but the January 1955 Model Railroader has the first reference to Homasote I could find, though there are earlier references to baseboard laminates/”sandwiches”.
So while ¾” plywood topped by ½”Homasote is a tried and true baseboard construction method, and as American as apple pie, at the risk of being reported to Sherriff Steve for un-American uttering’s, there are those of us from foreign climes that would beg to differ, and in fact dare to suggest that notwithstanding the extra expense for the actual materials, the extra work in laying up the laminates could be just as easily be spent in predrilling the holes.[swg]
Respectfully, the Bear.[:D]
Or just use caulk, faster than drilling holes and/or hammering in nails. It’s still easy to take up and change if you end up not liking what you did.
I’d still put something between the plywood and track though, eith sheet homasote or sheet cork. There may be an advantage to the extra noise without a softer material laminated on, since you’d know immedialtely whent he train left the modeled portion and hit staging when the sound gets louder, but others may find the extra noise objectionable. Doing staging with individual strips of roadbed material is overkill, since you can just cover the whole thing with a sheet of similar material and probably lower cost than boxes of precut strips. And this can be caulked on too, making it super fast - caulk bonds plywood and cork quite nicely.
–Randy
I’m not saying that using caulk is wrong; in fact I’d suggest that whatever method is used in layout construction, if it works for the user and the user is happy with the results, is O.K.
However, like Jim, I prefer nails because I find it easier to finesse, and if necessary, completely redo the trackwork.
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
My apologies to the OP if I’m getting [#offtopic]
I dunno what kind of plywood is being discussed here, but if you can’t push an Atlas track nail into plywood use pliers, maybe scrapbooking would be a more suitable hobby. [:P][swg]
In most cases, plywood-topped layouts usually get a layer of scenery - either directly on the plywood, or atop foam or plaster landforms. That means that you can use cheaper, but equally strong sheathing plywood. Its veneers are softwood, but no one has locomotives too heavy for this application. My staging yards are all laid directly atop such plywood…
3" wide strips scrounged from a demolition site for the lower staging:
…and 5/8" T&G sheathing plywood for the upper yard:
Trains running into or out of these yards are moving at low speeds, so noise is not an issue. I painted the plywood black, but the rails aren’t painted and there’s no ballast - this isn’t the layout, it’s staging…no need to draw attention to it. [swg]
Wayne
My whole layout is built with 1/2 one side smooth ply, topped with 1/2 homasote, dry wall screwed to the ply…framing is 1x3’s cut on My table saw, to get a true square cut. I was gluing and screwing the framework…but I said the hell with the screws and use a air-brad nailer…extremely faster and just as strong. The homasote that I get in My area is already treated so there is no need to do anything to it. 4X8X1/2 sheet costs me 22.00 and the lumber yard is 1 1/2 miles from My house…it’s been there for a 100yrs and I know most every family member there…when I owned My own trucks, I used to deliver lumber loads to them…My set-up is going on 35yrs old and not anything has ever moved on it’s own due to any problem’s other’s seem to have. I use 3/8th’s ME spikes, ten to a piece of flex track in the middle of tie, ballast and glue, do the rest. If I want to take a section out…piece of cake…dip a 1 inch brush in Denatured Alcohol, let set ten minutes…use a putty knife to lift under ties and the whole thing comes right up and the track is reusable. Most of the layout is open grid…but still built the same way…my roadbed…is the homasote cut on My table saw, with contour angle cut, that is kerfed for curves. The whole layout is built in tenft sections, bolted together and can be taken apart and moved out through patio doors on one side of my attic where there is a deck and use My son’s truck mounted cherry picker to lift it off…have already taken off 20 ft that way…layout was just too big for one person.
Nuff Rambling, My way works for Me, no matter what anyone say’s.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
I shall just grab my scissors and glue…[:$]
I was actually thinking of the puny Peco track nails, but then thought that a poor tradesman blames his tools…[:$][:$]
Cheers, the Bear.