I’m at the stage of laying track and can’t decide to use roadbed or not. I want to model a almost out of use branchline so the track will be slightly decrepit too.
My two cents…lay the track right on the subroadbed. I haven’t used roadbed in years. With proper ballasting it looks just fine.
I do not think what you are describing needs roadbed.
-Kevin
Then I sure am glad it’s not glued down yet!
I use cork roadbed under most of my mainline track, but use sandpaper to taper it down to the plywood sub-roadbed for industrial areas and sidings.
Even if you’re modelling an older branchline, it likely would have been built on a base of some sort, perhaps with drainage ditches along one or both sides of the right-of-way.
You can impart the look of age and decay by mixing dirt with ballast, or in some places using mostly dirt as the ballast, and of course, the weeds and trackside trees will be trying to reclaim the line, too.
Were I trying to model a similar scene, I’d use Central Valley ties strips, and once they were in place, paint most of the ties to reflect their age and lack of maintenance. When adding the rails, code 70, or even better, code 55 rail would enhance the impression of age and neglect.
If you really want to go with that theme, use a razor saw to score the top of the rails at 39’ intervals, then add glue-on joint bars.
Judicious use of static grass will also enhance the look of neglect along the track.
While the photo below, of a team track, is a work-in-progress, it attempts to show that such track often doesn’t get the same maintenance as the mainline…
That teamtrack’s ballast, and the gravel in the yard is composed of a mix of limestone dust and actual dirt, the latter also dust-like due to it being collected from a site used by heavy trucks and trains. You should be able to get a similar texture using very finely-ground foam, such as is available from Woodland scenics.
I hope that once you’ve got the track in place and commence the scenic work, you’ll share some photos with us here.
Wayne
I too would suggest adding some form of roadbed. The noise factor alone is a reason. I use it on my layout and very glad b/c it makes the layout look more realistic.
I think I’ll use the sanding tecnique for the sidings and I’m definitely going to be using static grass. I can’t wait to start the scenery but I’ve leaned to take my time
I used #36 garnet sandpaper for that job, mostly because I have hundreds of sheets of it, part of a much larger cache of sandpaper of all types, acquired when we bought an investment property.
I sold a lot of it at work, and took a half-load (to the top of the box of my 3/4 ton pick-up) of wet/dry paper in many grades, to an autobody supplier shop.
I still have a locker full of various types, much of it cloth-backed.
If you can’t find such really coarse sandpaper, a Stanley Surform works almost as quickly.
Wayne
Thank you for the tips! Will be posting some pictures soon on the progress in the next few days here but heres a teaser with my new FVM gp60 ( strange to see ATSF up here but I’m planning on patching it out for WSOR, hey if they got gp7us from them in my universe they also got a gp60!) 
One of the many benefits of freelancing. [tup][tup]
Wayne
Almost all real track is built up above grade to some extent if only for drainage.
Modellers use of underlay saves on trying to use realistic amounts of ballast and to simulate the real crushed rock roadbed as actually constructed.
Railroads have to be built like ordinary roads. The weight is supported by the subgrade under the ties, not the ballast. That subgrade is what is “constructed” and is represented well by foam risers as supplied by Woodland just for example the roadbed is then ballasted after the ties and rails are laid. Maintenance consists of re-ballasting periodically as train passage pumps ballast out of the track over time. That’s why old poorly maintained track looks like it has little no ballast the ballast is still there in the ditches under the weeds. Ballast keeps the track where it’s supposed to be.
Very old track can look like it has no drainage clearance below the grade but that results from the accumulation of detritus, mostly displaced ballast, in the ditches, not the lack of ballast in the first place. Wooden tied track pretty much has to sit in ballast in order to stay put and drainage is required to keep the ballast in place during rain and runoff events. Were I to model a virtually derelict branch line I’d build it on top of road bed (underlay), ballast it and then add natural looking “ditch fill” accumulations on each side to simulate the poor maintenance. Loose misplaced ballast, dirt, weeds and so on to represent lack of proper maintenance. The underlay also quiets the trains.
Old logging and mining type branchlines may have been built with little or no ballast but they really weren’t intended to survive long enough to look like decrepit branch track. They more or less literally dissolved into the scenery. Rarely would the rails be left behind.
Extensive trackage like closely spaced yard tracks and double sidings might look unballasted but that resulted from excess ballastin
The roadbed should be like the rail and ties that has seen years of defered maintenance. Some weeds between the rail would enforce the run down branch line look. Just be sure the weeds is low enough to allow train movement and coupler trip pins. Short static grass should work well for this.
Ringo… If you already have the cork roadbed in place, leave it. It is easy to build up the area next to the track to accomplish the look you are wanting, and that will be less work.
Larry’s advice above for static grass weeds will look great.
-Kevin
I guess you haven’t railfaned old branch lines before their demise or some short lines that that operates on a shoe string budget.
Some industrial leads hasn’t seen ballast in decades. The rail could be 80 or more years old.
Seeing it can cost up to $150,000 per mile to ballast track why bother ballasting a industrial lead or branch line that has very little revenue return?
That’s why railroads use defered maintenance and 10-15 mph speed restrictions on these lines.