Hello:
I’m 63 years old and getting tired of crawling around on the ground. I’ve been considering raising my railroad by using pvc pipe and plywood. My concern being I live in Michigan and I’m concerned about plywood holding up in winter conditions. Any thoughts on this.
Thank You
Dick B
Drive your supports below the frost line…
Plywood will get moisture and delaminate, use solid wood or hardibacker.
Support it well so it does not sag and give you roller coaster track.
Greg
below the frost line where i live can be 4 feet
Dick,
I live in Kalamazoo Michigan. I have not done my railroad the way you are talking about but I have a friend who has an outdoor railroad that is built on plywood that is held up on posts. But pvc pipe should work just as well. He covered his plywood with rubber rolled roofing. He’s had it outside for several years and has had no problems with it. His railroad is about a 40ft by 40 ft “L” shaped layout. He has three separate loops on it. He just likes to watch trains run. His roofing drapes over the edge so no plywood is directly exposed on the top surface to the weather. I don’t know where in Michigan you are, but in southwest Michigan this seems to work. If I was just starting out I might consider this as I’m 64 now and I know getting down to my 6 inch to 18 inch level is not going to get any easier as the years go by.
Bob
My intent was to back-fill with dirt, so my track isn’t high above the ground, but definitely elevated:
http://www.k2ut.org/roadbed.html
My highest part is about 2.5’ above the ground. The material I used has a lot of plastic in it so it appears to be extremely rot resistant. My original roadbed has only been out for 8 years but so far none of the roadbed has needed replacement except for extreme accidents, like someone (name won’t be mentioned) dropping a tree onto a portion of the line.
Bob
Bob = Welcome to trains.com! [C):-)]
Here is the original article I read about this method:
http://www.btcomm.com/trains/primer/roadbed/ladder1.htm
The problem is that we don’t have any dealers of this stuff locally, so I was wandering around a Home Depot (they are in every other town around here) and saw a product called ChoiceDek by Weyerhauser. it was inexpensive and strong, so I bought some and started experimenting.
Home Depot no longer carries that product, but they do have another similar product that is recycled plastic of some sort. The stuff is UV resistant and fairly inexpensive, and comes in 8-12’ lengths, making it perfect for the roadbed that the track sits on. Both Lowe’s and Home Depot sell some sort of composite ballusters… maybe Trex… that are perfect for the vertical supports.
The two big mistakes I made were (1) spacing the vertical supports out too far, and (2) letting unfinished ends just hang without support. The hanging ends did permanently bend, so this weekend I’m going to replace about 6’ of my original trackwork. Not a fun job considering it’s all buried in soil and surrounded by plants.
I like ladder line. Our so-called soil would not hold ballast, but the ladder line worked extremely well.
Bob
Thanks Bob, after reading your reply I looked at the web site you posted (I’ve been there a few times before) and then I looked back at your original post and saw that you had a link to your railroad. I should have looked at that before asking my question. It answered everything.
Thanks again,
Bob
How high would be good for A raised roadbed I am thinking about 2.5 feet
I think 2.5 feet would be ideal. I would love it if I had raised all of mine up to that height. Mine is all 2 foot or less. Mostly less. All the way down to ground level. It’s a lot farther down there than it used to be.
Bob
I’m working on the modular components for outdoor layouts. My requirements were that:
easy to install,
doesn’t sag and doesn’t need a post every two feet,
bends easily for either defined or free-hand curves,
uses mostly common materials,
zero impact from UV,
doesn’t rot,
can survive a tangle with the weed-eater,
and should be able to withstand falling tree limbs.
I will have the prototypes in my hands from the fabrication shop next week - and I promise to start taking pics as soon as I put the first post in the ground! (I have to find out about copyright stuff yet) I have been working on this for two years - and finally it is coming to fruition!!!
Everyone,
John Morrison has written an article about this very subject that will appear in the August 2012 issue. He raised his Dunkley Northern.
Thanks for the infor I will be looking for it in the mail , Bruce
Has anyone raised track by building retaining walls and filling with stone / dirt? How long should the fill be left to settle? Is it advisable to use posts and track support anyway?
Thanks for any experiences.
Steve Hanson
Austin TX
I did part of my railroad that way and the next spring I fixed up the problem areas. The following year it had settled more and I rebuilt it. It’s been good for the past couple of years, so I think it’s good now. I have to admit, I preferred doing it my way rather than waiting for two years for all the settling to be completed. I suspect that if I had rebuilt it after the first winter that it would have been ok today. Most of the change was after that first winter.
Bob
When I first moved to our new house, I tried the old method of digging a trench, pouring in crusher fines, putting on track, and topping off with more crusher fines. It sank. We spent almost as much time re-leveling and reballasting as we did running. Our sandy soil let the crusher fines sift right through.
So now we have elevated line built on supports. After the line is in, I put in bricks to act as walls, then fill with soil for gardening. As we shovel in dirt, the kids walk on it (with old shoes, of course) to pack it in. The soil from our first section (2004) is STILL settling in and needs more soil added each year. Some areas are getting pretty solid, but still not quite good enough.
I suspect you’ll be adding soil for a few years, but this is all part of the fun of the garden railroad 
Bob
I used concret bricks under my track and 6x16x2 caps under my switchs then backfilled with garden soil from my local garden supply @ 55.00 a ton. then i balisted my track. I have only one area the need’s some work after 2 years . that area I just run slower over dependin on witch way I’m going. I am still debating on elevating my track by 18-24 inch’s and redesining my trackplan. the main reson is I am getting older now and running trains at ground level is getting to be a bit to much for me.
Dave