Roadbed. Is it necessary? – If I don’t care about sound deadening?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’ve seen cork and foam road-bead available.

I’m planning to lay my track on painted (white) ½” thick wood.

Is a roadbed (cork or foam) really necessary? I really don’t care about sound deadening.

Just curios if it has any other benefits…

Thanks!

2

Many of the benefits of roadbed are aesthetic–real railroads used elevated roadbed in most places, so if you don’t have roadbed it may not look right. Roadbed can also help in making your trackwork smoother–foam or cork is softer than your tabletop, and thus is slightly less susceptible to “kinks” and such.

If you are running in-street track or other applications where no roadbed is necessary, no, you don’t need it–but it has other uses, such as modeling the appearance of real railroad roadbed.

I mean, technically speaking, you don’t need ties either.

3

My $.02 is it covers up the bad wood. Unless you SAND the wood smooth you will have an uneven surface. Remeber that 1/8" will send a steam engine flying. The whoops that are in wood will bind the trcks on most engines.
Your choice, sand and paint or roadbed. The surgace has to be smooth for best operations.
Take Care
George P.

4

I respectfully disagree. The ties keep he rails in gauge, just like in the real thing. they also make your railroad look railroad-like.

I do agree that the roadbed isn’t necessary, but it does make the use of flextrack easier, it is quieter, and the profile that it permits when you ballast is most realistic.

5

That depends on the wood… No, Roadbed isn’t necassary but your subtrack surface has to be smooth for best operations… In 25+ years of building layouts, I’ve never purchased a box of cork roadbed and have never particularly cared about sound deadening either… Remember, once you set ballast (and glue it in) you’ve recreated a path from the track to the wood for sound to travel… Albeit, maybe not as extreem but you’ve negated the sound deadening property of the cork roadbed… Now, if you want a profile, completely different matter… Then you need Some type of roadbed…

Jeff

6

If you are planning any changes in elevation it can help with the transitions. You can purchase a few pieces and lay some of each temperarily. Compare for yourself before you lay all your track. Think of the roadbed as the railroad does ballast. Its a much better ride on ballasted track. Thats why they don’t just lay theirs on dirt. ENJOY[2c]

7

The only place you shouldn’t be using roadbed is on secondary trackage and spurs.

8

No you don’t NEED it. Having been down this road I’ll offer some advise. If your not going to use it, DON’T use plywood for your layout board. Use 5/8" or 3/4" partical board
instead.(much less noisey) Plywood will act as an amplifier if you don’t use roadbed.
I did what your talking about once and would never do it again.(check out my web site and see). I like loud music, but loud trains stink.
Tom

9

I made the mistake of laying track for the first time without roadbed. BIG mistake, the noise was ridiculous and it looked terrible. I had to remove the ballast, replace rail joiners, slide cork under the track and re-ballast. Don’t do it.

Jim

10

To me it is dang if you do and dang if you don’t,Track is nicer with cork,but to me it it is out of scale(cork to high)! while makeing roads,then you come to crossing the track,you have to have an hump in you roads that is unreal! Take an scale ruler and check the hight of you cork?six foot high road bed.I’ve tryed both ways,so you can do what you want,its your rail road!!
JIM