Another noobie question,
I have been told not to use a track bed and to use a track bed. Just wondering if anyone has any pros or cons or opinions on the subject. Im in HO scale.
Thanks
John
John,
I assume by “track Bed” you mean cork road bed (or something similar) between your sub road bed (plywood, Homasote, etc.) and the track. This is generally done for overall appearance, as most real rail roads have raised roadbeds with nicely sloped ballast but it is not necessary for good operations. I chose not to go to the expense and time of using cork or any substitute. My sub road bed consists of 1/2" thick painted Homasote on top of 3/4" plywood. The track is laid directly on the Homasote. I plan on ballasting it eventually but trains have been running for several years as it is without problems. A club I once belonged to also laid the track directly on the Homasote and, with ballast and other scenery, it looked fine to most eyes. But it’s going to be YOUR rail road so do what is going to make YOU happy.
Well since I’ve already been frustrated with a few things. I’m not going to lay a track bed. Thank you for the info!!
And yes. I did mean cork or similar.
What are you modeling. If it’s a Class 1 mainline, it’s going to look a bit strange without roadbed. If you’re modeling a rundown short line, then not having roadbed wouldn’t look so bad.
Steve S
I like roadbed. It reduces noise. It looks good. It helps in laying track. It makes stations more prototypical lookiNg as you have to climb up from street level. I have roadbed in most places except ny staging yard.
I am 1" foam on 1/2" plywood. Midwest Products cork roadbed, HO scale.
I like cork as it can be sanded flat and helps ease the rise and drops in elevation for bulletproof trackwork.
I agree with the others here. Not essential for operations, but adds greatly to appearance and sound deadening. And, when all is said and done, really not a frustrating part of layout construction. Your layout, your rules, but it’s really hard to take a Mulligan on roadbed without ripping up the whole layout.
I like all the responses. Would you guys suggest corking the whole layout? All the track I mean? Or can I leave some without any? Like sidings/spurs.
A lot depends on what scene you are modeling. Out in open country, most main lines are up on some sort of elevated roadbed. When a railroad is first built two ditches are usually dug, one along each side of where the track is goint to be built. This dirt is thrown to the inside and leveled off, making an elevated roadbed. There were exceptions to this when the RR contractor was trying to build on the cheap or in a hurry.
Such is not necessarily the case in cities or towns. Look at some older photos you find on the internet and if you pay close attention, you will see a lot of tracks-main line and siding- that are all at the same level as the surrounding terrain and streets.
For the most part, it was all about drainage. As a modeler, I like to have my main tracks on cork roadbed and my secondary tracks and sidings down lower on top of the plywood.
Charlie
the idea of sidings not on roadbed appealed to me at first. but-
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I prefer all tracks in passenger stations to be at same level
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You need 12" ramp to go from roadbed to no roadbed, that’s ~2% grade! as cork roadbed is about 1/4". Then you need 6" from the switch frog to keep the switch itself level. Ok that’s a total of 36" … The rest of your siding will be without roadbed. My longest siding is 8’ long and still it would look odd I think.
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To make the above happen you need a lot of sanding/ foam carving.
benefit is your cars will never roll out on the trunk line.
So I decided to use roadbed everywhere except my staging yard (visible) where 7 tracks x 10 feet saved me actual money. It makes a perceptible change of sound.
Most of my mythical, short line/bridge line/interchange line has track spiked directly to 3/4" plywood. I kinda like a bit of rumble as a train passes, and have not ever had spikes loosen on their own doing( well once in a while when encouraged by a firmly held chisel). After ballasting, there is an illusion of slope that has been easy to maintain. If I was modeling high speed, long distance type lines, use of cork or foam sub roadbed would be worth considering.
One nice thing about modeling, is despite the myriad of techniques and methods to build with, many of them can be combined to suit the preferences of the modeler. Only one mandate-very simple-build something and have fun doing it!
Don H.
I’m going to give you a slightly different take on the subject.
Why does the prototype have a raised roadbed? Primarily for drainage, and also to smooth out the humps and hollows of running across the general direction of drainage. Even in places as notoriously flat as West Texas the ground undulates. So does the railroad, but less so - and there will be a culvert under the lowest point of each little fill.
In urban areas and in large yards the top of the ballast may appear level. That’s because there are French drains (perforated pipes) underneath it to provide drainage. The manhole covers over key junction boxes are a giveaway.
So, how do we simulate this in a model? Standard cork roadbed does a pretty good job of pretending to be the top two feet of HO ballasted roadbed, but it isn’t the only answer. Pink or blue foam can be carved with a knife or shaped with a hot wire forming tool (DON’T breathe the fumes! Wear a respirator and work in a very well ventilated area.) Plaster or drywall mud can be slip-formed. Literally anything, from cedar shingles to pieces of drywall can be formed into the desired shape. Note that less important track doesn’t warrant (and doesn’t get) the full mainline treatment.
One line I’m familiar with re-ballasted and aligned their main track several times, each time raising it a couple of inches. A parallel passing siding didn’t get that level of attention, and ended up a couple of feet lower than the main, sloping upward to mainline level at the ends so the turnouts would be level across all rails.
A Penn-Central yard I discovered in Illinois had suffered a drainage failure due to lack of maintenance. It was literally sinking into the mud that should have been solid ground under the rails. One track, gone past the point of usability, had been embargoed by nailing an X of scrap boards across the switch target.
In thinking
Id really like to get track laid right now. And get the line up and running. I’m guessing as long as I don’t nail anything down I can add cork or roadbed later on? I am very new. so i may experiment with a few things first before making anything permanent.
If you’re like most, once you lay the track and work out the “bugs”, I doubt that you would tear it up and add the roadbed. This is the time to lay it. Don’t sweat the cork, actually, draw the track centerlines, and when laying cork strip apart and the halved first piece will follow that line. If you feel you will want to make changes, alter the plan or need to “tweak” the track, use Dap Alex Plus caulk to secure. The roadbed and/or track will easily lift by sliding a flexible putty knife in the seam.
Johhny, that’s what I meant about taking a mulligan (do-over in golf terms) – you probably don’t want to re-lay all your track with roadbed under it. Do it once, and only change what you need to. I used foam roadbed, and held it in place with nails while I played wth the configuration. When I was happy, I pulled the nails, used a putty knife to spread caulk under the roadbed, checked the alignment, put caulk under the track, and weighted it down, thus locking everything in place. When I expanded the layout, I traced the outline of the new track, took it up, laid raodbed, replaced the track, and I was done. It was much easier to do it the second way, and I had enough experience that I was able to lay good track without kinks, bulges, or unwanted superelevation.
Also, the alignment of the roadbed doesn’t have to be perfect. Only the track on top does.
You don’t need roadbed to run trains. But it sure does look better on the mainlines and helps quiet operation.
I stuck the first track down directly on the ply on my new layout using bits of double-sided carpet tape and used alligator clips to connect the power, just to confirm that the curves and grades would work OK. Once satisfied I carefully pulled it up, caulked down the roadbed, and re-installed the track again just using the tape. Then I finally pulled up the track again, caulked it in place, wired it permanently and went from there.
Doing this allows you to run trains quickly and also makes adjusting the plan very easy as you go along. The only danger is that it takes some self-control. You don’t want to get too far with it or you could end up with a complete model railroad without any roadbed. But as I expand I am still using the double-sided tape to check things out before caulking everything down. (Caution- use only small bits of tape otherwise it is hard to pull the track up without damaging it!)
Also I just finished up ballasting, weathering and basic ground cover for one of my sidings that is laid down directly on foam. I wanted it to look like the track had been there for years and not really maintained, and elevated roadbed didn’t fit the vision. Since I am using ply cookies for the track base and foam for the scenery base I just set the height of the foam in that area so the top was even with the top of the end of the cork roadbed leading into the siding. And used a bit of spackling to make the joint perfectly even. Then carved and shaped the foam at the sides to my liking. The boxcar in the pic is sitting right on top of the joint. Yes I still have work to do- the building needs a roof and signs, and I need to add a ton of bushes and trees. And water in the creek. But the siding track works great.
There are a lot of ways to work out these sort of transitions. I
Your layout looks amazing!! And that’s a good idea. I may do cork once I price it out and of couse re arrange the tables.
Just to be clear, I am not recommending carpet tape as a permanent way to attach track! But I found that it is a quick way to get started running some trains and checking things out. Also cork is readily available and pretty cheap by the box so the cost of roadbed shouldn’t be a big issue. Here are some more pics that might help you decide on a plan.
At this point just getting started, with the track attached with bits of the carpet tape for testing. You can even see the alligator clip connections at the end. I kept on adding track and ran trains this way for a couple of months, making minor adjustments to the plan as I went along.
Maybe six months later and cork roadbed is down. It looks a lot better with the roadbed. But all of the track leading up to and around the trestle and bridges at the top is still just taped down. I pulled the track off and set it back down again dozens of times until everything was ready for permanent installation. This photo is several months old but the temporary track at the upper left is still set down with the tape today. You can also see the roadbed-to-foam joint at the siding shown in the photo posted earlier (bottom-middle of the pic.)
Once completely satisfied the track here is caulked down and ballasted, and scenery completed. Well not quite finished in this pic, I added the guards to the small bridges and painted/weathered the track after it was taken. Point is I don’t think that this scene would have looked nearly as good without roadbed to elevate the track a bit.
LIONS do not use roadbed. Him has used it before and it is 1) costly; and 2) a PITA when you want to move a track.
LIONS are always moving, removing and reworking tracks.
Of course maybe you are not building a subway train…
Jere is track with ballast, but without a raised road bed as it is running in an open cut…
Again, ballast, no cork roadbed, laid flat on the Celotex table top. The Route of the Broadway LION uses cat litter for ballst, gravity holds it in place, espcially since there is no roadbed for it to slide down. If I want to move a track I can brush the stuff aside, or can vacuum it up. Besides LION thinks that modelers using cork roadbed end up with a mane lion that is too tall.
Here is the BNSF mane line in Richardton, ND : How tall doe that look to you? The weeds (or snow banks) are taller than the tracks. You can see where the ballast changes color. The siding here is NEWER than the mane lion, but it is privately owned and was built by a contractor. Note that the switch stands are different.
ROAR
