How do you guys make the transition off of the main line with roadbed/ballast onto a yard that will be laid directly to the surface? I am going to use cork under my main line, and want to transition to nothing under the track in the yard… Advice, pictures, or video’s would be great!
I use flex track on cork for my main. when transitioning to a yard or industry siding I taper the cork down to the surface of the benchwork top (Extruded foam) and lay the track directly on the foam. I also transition ballast from grey to cinders.
I used cork also on my mainline. In two larger yards I transitioned to thinner sheet cork (N scale?). In another small 3-track tank car yard I transitioned to the plywood. In both cases I sanded the mainline cork over a fair length of the yard entry to get the vertical transition. Not difficult. Look at a piece of temporary track to get a visual of how steep a slope you do or don’t want.
I would try to keep the yard level with the main. So, use a large sheet of cork, sheet foam or even a big piece of white foamboard under your yard. That way, the yard will not look like the tracks are elevated on ballasted roadbed.
This is particularly important if you use magnetic uncouplers. If you have a slope, your cars will run away from the engine, and you won’t be able to take advantage of Kadee “delayed” uncoupling to spot your cars.
I did that on my two of my past HO loop layouts…I had a blast “kicking” cars like I did when I was a brakeman.
You have 3/16" you have to drop - I have only a 1/16" drop from my Homabed to to my cork. I use a 16" transition to do that. I uses a 'Surform’ tool to remove material from the higher roadbed. You can also use a small detail sander to remove the material - Work slow and ‘eyeball’ your work as you proceed…
Jim
If you are using foam as a subroadbed, I find it a lot easier to lower the cork into the foam than sanding down the cork.
Here the invisible man works with the steady hand of a surgeon.
A rasp can help.
I glue my cork in with caulk as it is also a good filler/leveller for any errant gouges.
If you choose to sand down your cork to make the transition, be sure to remove material from the bottom of the cork roadbed. That way the ballast pile will also get narrower as it gets shorter and the shoulders of the pile will be at the same distance from the ends of the ties as you go down the slope.
Very cool idea! I think I will try both this and the sanding technique and see which one I feel more comfortable with.
I taper cork using a table-top belt sander. I take the silver foil duct tape and apply to one side of the cork. Then I flop the other side onto the sanding belt, then use a piece of wood to apply even pressure of the back of the cork to help keep it level. Most sanders aren’t long enough to take the whole piecre, so turn it 180 to finish. Remove the protective tape and it’s ready for the layout. This makes nice long gentle vertical curves easy.
I don’t own a sander and never did and at my age never will…
I use a electric kitchen knife to “fillet” the road bed slope to the yard or industry spur.I sand it smooth with a sanding disk my Dremel.
One other tip, if you haven’t done so already; to see how this transition from main to yard or spur should be, look at the prototype. Take pictures, if necessary. This will also give you some idea as to where the ballast ends and where the dirt or cinders start. Sometimes, depending on the traffic/use of a spur, there is stone ballast on it too, just not as deep and often not as well kept.
Jim makes a good point. You will need to allow sufficient distance off the main for the transition. If you have the room, great, all the methods mentioned work fine. Attempting to drop to the lowered yard too quickly will cause nothing but headaches and should just keep the yard the same elevation. Methods of changing ballast to transition to cinder/ dirt in the yard along w/ some scenery techniques of cutting drainage and/ or adding weeds etc will give the illusion of the prototypical yard. Your choice
I’ve always used shimming shingles for the transition. Should be available at any lumber yard or Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc. The nice thing is they are cheap cedar wood, easy to work with, and I’ve never had an issue with the couplers coming apart on the transition. I used the 12" and 15" long ones. Used to be under $2. @ bundle, now under $4.