Well I have two questions. First is I am putting up my old layout that was in storage for 4 years and after I have replaced all the poor wood with fresh new wood, made sure all the bolts were tight, sanded rough edges, and made the sections to my standards I am in the track planning stage. I have 4 designs that I am going through but all have atleast somthing wrong with them. One design I can not fit my roundhouse in it, on another there is a curved turnout that I think is too tight but since I do not have it I can only guess, and one other…well, it looks weird. What i’m getting at is how do you know what track plan to do if your not good at math, don’t have a track planning computer program, and only can lay templates down and guess? How do you know…yep, that is the one?
Second, when you buy cork do you have to pull it apart then tack it down? If so why? Why can’t you just go from the box and tack it down?
There are at least two free track planning programs out there. The Atlas RTS program, and XTrkCad http://www.XtrkCad.org I have not used the Atlas program, but it is supposed to be pretty easy to use. Surprisingly enough, it only has Atlas track in it! XtrkCad takes some learning, but it has a pretty good tutorial with it. Or there is templates and patience.
As far as cork goes, it is split down the middle at an angle. When you separate it, you put it back together with the angles on the outer edges to forn the profile of the roadbed, eith the straight sides that were the outsides together on the inside.
There is no way to “know” for sure without actually laying down the track and running a train on it, anything less will be a guess.
Go ahead and buy some track, you’re going to need it anyway and temoporarilly put some of the designs together and try them out, when you like something then you can put some cork under it and nail it down.
You do not have to pull the cork apart, but laying the halves makes it easier to follow a centerline and you have “benfit” of beveled shoulders to adheare ballast to. If you don’t split the cork, you can of course build up the shoulders with ballast, (isn’t that the way the prototype does it?). Either way works.
BNSFcon- Glad to have you on board, and glad to hear you are re-furbishing an old layout.
The posts are right, no sure way unless you use a planning program, and about the cork, too.
If the cork bothers you, you might check out AMI Instant Roadbed, never used it myself but hear it’s pretty easy. It is a self adhering type of rubberized cork, if I remember right. I’m sure they have a website, if not, go to Walther’s and look it up there.
Yeah, but the AMI is extremely tacky, and is nearly impossible to remove without some sort of solvent. Once it’s placed, it’s best considered permanent. I’ve heard tales about sections where it didn’t adhere, but I suspect some sort of contamination in those cases. The AMI is similar (probably identical) to the same stuff used in the automotive industry to seal around air conditioner condensers, and blower housings. You could probably find it at a body supply shop.
Personally I would NEVER use the stuff again. I use butyl tape, which is used in the RV and mobile home industry to seal around doors and windows, and also by the pre-fab steel building contractors, to seal the edges of the steel sheets. I did a tutorial on this several months ago with photos. Here’s a link: http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1056223/ShowPost.aspx The thing I like best is that (with care) it is removeable, and it’s fairly cheap.
Getting a layout design you like is not easy. The layout software helps keep you from doing things like a kink in the track, etc. It doesn’t give you a good design, only you can do that based on what you want to do for the space you have. Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong is a great book for helping with this and I highly recommend it. It also has some techniques for drawing your layout on paper (I know it’s old fashioned, but it has worked well for me). Also:
Study layouts that are about the size of your space and see how they included things like a roundhouse.
Get some track and set up different arrangements to see what will work.
And keep drawing plans for your space until you get one you like - use templates, compass, ruler, etc. for more accurate results.
AMI Instant Roadbed is no longer available. I guess it wasn’t ever very popular.
I use foam roadbed from Woodland Scenics. It’s been a long time since I used cork, so my comparison might not be valid, but I think the foam stuff is a lot easier to work with.
Hey thanks everyone for the help. Has luck would have it i went home and looked at my layout and went back to my old track plan but now with a bigger space and everything i want to put in it seems to fit and i don’t think there are any major curve problems that could not be fixed and it seems it might work. I hope it will, i’m tired of stressing of makeing the wrong choice. Again thanks and happy holidays.
Good for you! A step back, or away, is often all that is needed to get to thinking about it all creatively. Sometimes we are the limitation, other times we impose them on ourselves.
Sometimes it is a good idea to start at the most important, or the trickiest, element(s) in a plan and work outward. The more one aspect is an absolute, or nearly so, the more critical is its interface with everything around it. So, centralize it in the planning process by situating it in an open area on your graph paper or your CAD. Then draw the intended curves and turnouts and approaches/exits close by, and work your way outward with a view to making it all fit. Do it freehand in necessary, and then tighten up the geometry once the rough plan comes together. Once you have the track plan laid out as tightly as you can, then draw your borders to match the edges of benchwork, and you have your layout. Question now becomes, “Will it fit where I need it to fit?” Either way, outward to inward or vice versa, each will show you the deficiencies if you do them right and know the minimums for the rolling items you hope to use.