Have any of you had experience with, or knows anyone who has, Split Jaw’s Roadbed System?
It looks pretty simple to use and would save a lot of ground preparation for track road bed if I’m reading their ads right.
Just wondering…
No mate i haven’t and it has been my decision to stay aweay fromn this sort of thing, as you can majke your own way quite well in situ for very little money.
Rgds Ian
If you are working inside the house and the wife will not let you bring in any dirt and rocks, then go for it. But if you are outside playing in the dirt, why bother. Since you are in a part of the country that has a freeze thaw cycle, just look at the additional yearly maintenance. It just went from adding a bit more ballast, to re-leveling the fabricated roadbed.
I have used it for years and love it.
That said, it’s not for everybody. It is expensive and if you have the time and the skills you can create your own using the ladder system. The trade off is time versus money. The Mainline roadbed isn’t cheap (but nothing in this hobby seems to be)
My layout is grade and terrained challenged so some sort of fixed roadbed was an imperative in getting the grades correct and smooth. The original loop was on a flat area with no grades and for that portion I used a concrete roadbed. When the line started expanding into the “Hills” I switched to the Mainline Enterprise roadbed when it was run by Rocky and then from Spit Jaw when it purchased the company.
The biggest advantage is (and this applies to the ladder system as well) you can layout the roadbed regardless of the actual terrain, get it leveled and smoothed and then backfill the terrain to look like the land always looked that way.
You don’t have to worry about the back fill settling later and messing up you trackwork. It’s far easier to get the roadbed right the first time then it is to constantly be fixing it later because of derailments. On my first layout, I used the trench and fill method. I went to the concrete roadbed for my second and then Mainline for the subsequent expansions. It is amazing how much better the trains run on something solid.
E-mail me if you want some pictures of the installation
e-mail on the way…
Whiterab, I’m shooting you an e-mail too, if you don’t mind.
I’d like more info too. I’m in Northern Ohio and looking for roadbed which will stand up to the freeze thaw cycles.
Since I’m in southern Texas “freeze / thaw cycle” is a term I’m unfamiliar with [}:)]
I will say that the split jaw roadbed and the ladder roadbeds are both supported by driving the upright supports into the the ground. In the case of the Split Jaw roadbed you use 3/4" PVC pipe. Assuming you have enough dirt, the pipes would be supported below the freeze line and the roadbed should stay stable over the winter.
Staying below freezing for more than a day is a rare event here so I can’t speak from experience.