I’ve been reading all night on roads, all types, all techniques, but what I’m failing to find is, how is your grade set more or less. What I mean by this, and my situation is: I’ve got foam over ply construction with cork roadbed on that. Now the question is for all my structures, and grade crossings, do you guys raise most of the areas to match grade of roadbed, with cork, or other materials? Or do you not and gradually raise the “road” to height at grade crossings, and areas where tracks are in the pavement? And for the buildings, I would obviously have to raise a “main street” to match sidewalk height above road grade… So I was just curious of what some of you may do, just to get some ideas, or avoid any problems! The irony of it all is that I build roads and highways for a living! This should be a challange! I do have a good idea of what I need to do, but like I said just checking. Thanks in advance! -Patrick
I have the same problem. My latest theory will be to raise roads, buildings etc with foamcore board on top of the 2" foam. That way the roads will be pretty level with the track (which they are in real life) and the buildings will sit at the appropriate height for curbs, sidewalks etc. Ground cover and foliage will cover the areas inbetween.
I personally don’t care for flat terrain. So, I keep the tracks mostly level, and build the ground level up and down around them. So, some structures are set above track level, and some below.
For rail-served structures like depots, I too use a piece of foamcore board to bring the structure up to the level of the track. Then I slope the scenery away from that with plaster cloth or foam scraps.
As a road approaches the tracks, I build a ramp with styrene up to the level of the ties. I use Durhams Water Putty for my roads. Once I’ve got the ramp, I can pour the Durhams right up to the outside edges of the rails, giving me a clean grade approach to the tracks. Durhams doesn’t shrink as it hardens, so it won’t pull away from the rails. I use styrene between the rails at grade crossings.
Well at least this give me something to go off of… I too was thinking of the foamcore as well… looks like that what i’ll be doing, at least in some areas… Thanks for the info!
Still curious what other peoples solution or opinions are… -Pat
Hi Patrick: Kudos to you for planning your roads along with your trackplan. I agree with Mr. B’s reply on not having everything level. Roads tend to follow the terrain, so they would sometimes be below, sometimes be above the track. There are many materials that make good looking road surfaces. My favorite is styrene, painted flat black, and weathered with gray sidewalk chalk. Lines painted with a paint pen. I also like timber crossings. Here, a road crosses 4 tracks at 3 different elevations.
Here’s a couple ideas.
If you really want to get picky and model the terrain around buildings you can use the 1/4"per foot rule. Every home should have the grade “slope” away from the house to “shed” water from all sides. We in the industry usually try to slope the “grade” no less than a 1/4 per foot. The grade should slope to a “swale” which is a very shallow ditch that directs water around the house towards an inlet , ditch or towards some other water collecting structure. Drive ways should also slope away from the house toward the road. Sidewalks though they look flat are not. They also should slope away from the house. The idea is to get the water away from a house
I hear what your saying, like I said I do it for a living so setting the pitch and grades isn’t the problem, I am just trying to see if most of you use cork over everything, or what the general approch most people use to model roads, sidwalks, foundations, slabs, and so on. So far I appreciate all the input. Thanks guys! -Pat
Most buildings I put on a foundation made from bass wood, foam core board, plastic ect to bring the dock and/or loading doors up to boxcar door level.
Roads I use foam core board, painted & weathered.
In a nutshell, we raise our mainline track above the surrounding terrain through the use of roadbed, 1/8" if you are modeling in HO. This is desirable in most instances because prototype mainlines sit above their surrounding terrain. The problem is those instances were the track needs to be at the same level as the surrounding terrain, such as grade crossings, stations, industrial spurs etc. Generally at grade crossings, the road will rise to the track level. That is fairly easy to do. At stations, platforms can either be at track level or raised above it. If your platform is raised, generally the whole station needs to be as well so it is desirable to have the terrain surrounding the station also raised. I like to use 1/8" styrofoam sheets to do this. It is relatively cheap. I bought mine at Lowe’s and it comes in a bundle with an accordion fold. I’ve been using the same bundle for over 5 years and probably still have half the bundle left over. Besides being cheap, it is virtually identical in height in height with commercial foam and cork roadbed. It’s also good for raising yard tracks to mainline level. For industrial spurs, I will usually, but not always, lower the track to ground level. I do this by laminating cardboard strips in varying lengths to create a gradual drop down to the scenic base, which in my case is either plywood or foam. In some circumstances, I will raise the industrial structure the same way I do my passenger stations, with 1/8" foam. Whatever is easier usually dictates the choice.
I think this is reasonable. I’d add that, from what I’ve seen, sidings & lesser tracks most often seem to be below the track level. So you might consider transitioning sidings down from the main line to “ground level” and eliminate most of the problem. And, yes, most all roads rise up to meet the track level. I think I’d lower my yards to ground level as opposed to raising them to track level. Besides, doing so would immediately identify the main line for even the most casual observer.
dlm