Which is the actual height of roadbed in N scale and Z scale?
Has anyone used extruded foam for roadbed?
Would it be practical to raise/lower roadbed height to level a joint of two different sized rails? I know prototypes used special rail sections to go from one rail height to another, but I just don’t think it would be practial to file code 80 rail down to match the height of code 70 rail at transitions.
What all types of roadbed material are out there? I have asked about homasote and have decided being in an apartment it’s too messy to deal with and would be getting some strange looks cutting it outside (as it is I will be building the framing out in the garage in sections and then lugging it upstairs to be installed) and I’m weighting different options. The LTS carries cork roadbed and the WS foam, but I don’t think they have it in Z scale.
They do adversite as selling Z scale but so far all I’ve noticed on the racks is freight cars.
hi, i work in HO and use cork over plywood exclusively. as for homosote, it is kind of like oysters. you either love it or hate it. no middle ground. i played around with it years ago and had too may problems so i am in the hate it camp. i don’t even want it on the property. prototype transition of rail sized was most often done at a joint, using a special rail joiner that took one size rail at one end and another at the other end.
I hate oysters. I love clams, but hate oysters. I planned on used the extruded foam for scenery base also, but I was reffering to using it in place of say cork or foam roadbed. I imagined it would be like using homasote, cuting out a chuck of extruded foam specifically to place the track on (the height of scenery base, say 1 inch, plus height of roadbed, say 5/16 if using HO) and then building extruded foam scenery base around that. It’s more or less an idea to try and keep cost and material usage down. I will end up being one of those people that will save a little money here and there, and then used said saved money on other things. Like for instance using a cheaper method on roadbed that would save say 50 bucks for the entire layout, and then using that saved 50 on more expensive, more realistic looking trees. My layout will have a mix of everything, down town scenage, rolling country scenage, industry scenage. I’m pretty open to anything at this point, I haven’t started yet. Heck I haven’t even settle on a plan yet to even start framing!!
Model roadbed is supposed to simulate the elevation of prototype track on its bed of ballast above normal ground level. On modern main lines, that ballast bed can be more than a foot thick. On spurs and loggin railroads, there may next to no ballast, and the track may be right at ground level. Model roadbed also needs to provide a smooth rigid surface on which to lay track.
The difference between code 80 and code 70 rail is 0.010". It is practical to file the heights to match, but you should make the transition between the heights at least an inch or so long. This is to avoid sudden dips that our 0.020" flanges might climb over. Usually, a metal shim (can be a flattened rail joiner) is placed under the smaller rail to match the heights. Or shim under the ties.
Homasote is available pre-cut and ready to use; it’s called Homa-Bed. It’s available in various thicknesses and profiles. Homa-Bed is
The answer requires taking actual measurements of the various commercial products. Prototype roadbed ranges from several feet (The coal-burning N&W used to claim five feet of crushed rock ballast on their main tracks) to sunk out of sight in the mud (seen in a Conrail yard in Illinois in the late 1970s.)
I carve roadbed out of thin (9mm) pink foam, sold as fan-fold underlayment and used by people who install thin-sheet siding. And if you think Homasote is messy, wait until you see the results of attacking foam with a Shur-Form tool!
I routinely shim under flex track to match the height of the wood ties under my hand-built specialwork. My material of choice is card stock. Others have used sheet styrene. If you use caulk to fasten your flex track, it will compensate for a few thousandths of mismatch.
I suppose that careful filing is a possible solution but if it was me I’d just put a .01 plastic shim under the end of my Code 70 track and be done with it! Let’s face it: 1/100 of an inch ain’t very much. Unfortunately a rolling wheel can find it without problem and give you absolute fits while that amount is really imperceptible to the naked eye except to a rivet-counter extraordinaire!
I, myself, never have but this seems to currently be very, very, very popular. I recently had occasion to visit an N-Scale layout which was done using foam roadbed and I must admit to being impressed; I have also been impressed with some of the photographs I have seen depicting this method. The reason I did not try it on my last layout circa 1999 is because I couldn’t find it at that time so I continued with my tried-and-true Homasote® method. I periodically drift through the insulation section of my local Home Depot or Lowes but supply seems to be just a little erratic. Nevertheless if I can find it when I get ready to construct my next layout I may just give it a try!
I can perhaps be accused of “overkill” in my construction of roadbed . . . . . . . . . . at least I have been told that by acquaintances.
I use a sandwich of 3/8" plywood, 1/2" Homasote®, cork, and Micro Engineering N-Scale Code 55. This has worked for me for a quarter of a century now. The r
Interesting. I wonder how that would compare cost-wise to the rubber shelf liner stuff I’ve used. Local hardware stores have piles of the pink fan-fold foam. Do you carve a bevel on the sides or build up a bevel with caulk (or somthing similar)?
Also, Michael’s Crafts stores sell rolls of rubber sheet now - it’s the same stuff people have used for paved roads. Dunno what the crafty types use it for - soft puzzle pieces for kids maybe?