I’m ready to start my road bed, but i don’t know what the best product is. Is cork better than foam? And where is the best place to purchase road bed? Is there such road bed for turnouts? Any help will be appricated.
Thanks,
Scott
I always use cork. It is cheap, flexible, preformed with the proper side slope and easy to work with. And yes there are turnout blocks ready made to place where you need them, although I find it easy enough to form a branch at the turnout without buying the premade blocks. I never tried to make foam roadbed. It’s probably more trouble that it’s worth.
Honestly if you live in a dryer climate, then the thing for you would probably be homasote. However, if you live in a humid climate, then cork(being less affected by swelling from absobing moisture)is probably the way to go. Also, another big plus with homasote is that it absorbs the vibrations, thus causing the dull roar that you hear when you run trains on bare wood, just as well(if not better than) it does moisture. The end result is a quieter operating session.