Ok this is my Question Post of the Day!
Do you lay track before or after you do scenery? Which is better?
If i lay it before(which ive seen done) how do you get the gravel bed under the track?
If i lay it after scenery how do i nail it down without messing up the scenery?
Thanks and Have a Good Day
the way i do it is to lay track, (spike it down) ballest, then complet the scenery. that seams to work best for me. outhers may do it diff.
i always like to get the tracks done first… that way i can always run the trains with or without the scenery… plus i won’t have to fix the scenery every time I nail down some track
Scenery should always follow the track. Draw the route you want for your train, lay the track then think how you want your scenery to look. I don’t mean you shouldn’t have a clue about the layout you want when you get started, just remember, the scenery is there to enhance the railroad and not the other way about.
i’d be surprized to hear that anyone puts scenery down before track. the pictures you (and i) drool over do not have gravel under the track. what they typically have under the track is called cork roadbed. it is about a quarter inch thick, and has angled sides to represent pilled up gravel. the track is nailed or glued to the cork, then the gravel is spread, wet, and glued over the track and cork.
homasote seems to be another popular roadbed material. i’ve never seen it.
and in railroading (prototype or model) we call it ballest, not gravel. [:)]
calvin.
If you want to be really prototypical, you do the scenery first, then you lay the track! [:)][:p]
I like laying track using the adhesive caulk method. This is a realatively new techinque and there some old threads in this forum. I run the trains around and make sure that there are no hidden surprises in the trackwork.
If it all checks out, I just sprinkle the ballast on the tracks, and get it the way that I want it. When all is in place, I lightly mist the ballast with wet water (Water w/ just a touch of detergent). After the misting, I use an eyedropper to lock the ballast in place with a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water.
I hope that this helps!
I’ve always laid the track first, then installed the scenery. We are currently doing the same on our club layouts (n-scale and HO scale). Just for informational purposes to those on the forum; you might all check into the Geodesic foam scenery material from Bragdon Enterprises [[/urlhttp://]www.bragdonent.com . This stuff is clean, fast and fun to work with. Also, it is relatively inexpensive. It really is excellent!
No, I do not work for or have any association with the company or it’s owner, except that he was kind enough to do a 2+ hour demonstration at our club. I’ve also seen his demonstrations at the GATS shows. I cannot emphasise how great this stuff is. It definately makes scenery building (the land scape shells, etc) FUN! Anyone can do it!
[:D]
Welll, you could always lay the scenery first, then try to lay your track, find you’ll have to move scenery, finally get the track in place, run a few trains and find the track is wrong. find out yuou have to move scenery to adjust the track, touch up the area that had track before to make it look right. then after all that finally have a decent layout.
Or you could lay the track, work out all it’s bugs, then start adding scenery and have a great looking layout in a third of the time.
Jay.
I lay track, do basic scenery shapes, paint, texture with basic ground foam, then ballast the track, then do detailed scenery. This works great for me, but be sure to tape over track when doing something messy.
Ron
The primary reason you want to do track first is you get to actually RUN the trains much sooner. 
It is also much easier to lay the track first before you do the scenery because, as mention before, if you do the scenery first you will end up moving a lot of things to make the track fit and you may end up accidently ruining a lot of buildings, people, etc, that you so carefully placed while you try to install your track.
Also, if you don’t like something about the way you’ve chosen to lay your track you can simply change the path without having to move scenery.
Warren
John Allen did a few areas on his layout with scenery first. The subroadbed was in but it was to stop areas where he wouldn’t put the track in for years from holding up the scenery building.
Most people lay all the track firs then all the scenery. I didn’t but thats just me.
WIth regards to wht Scottydog said, I think it is important to put plenty of thought into what you want the scenery to look like otherwise you can end up being forced into making weird looking scenery just to be able to cover the track supports etc.
neil
Assuming your modeling a Class 1 well maintained RR…
Roadbed
Track
Scenery (rough)
Ballast
Scenery (detail)
Do your roadbed/track FIRST and make sure the trains run well.
Then do your rough scenery like casting mountains, hills, etc. Get then stained/colored/washed/ whatever
Then do your ballasting. In reality scenery is NEVER on top of the ballast unless your modeling an old roadbed thats not well maintained. A well maintianed Class 1 RR wil have a ballasted track where new ballast has been deposited over the scenery next to the tracks. (or at least it will LOOk that way) Then do your final scenery, trees/etc.
If your doing an older poorly maintained line then…
Ballast before you do scenery, then you can add grass/weeds/whatever right up to the tracks.
Track first.
You MUST make sure it operates well before adding things like scenery that make it tough to access the entire roadbed.
I have run my layout for up to six months without scenery while tweaking the track with all sorts of rolling stock and locomotives in many combinations and different directions, etc.
Don’t ru***his process. You will be VERY sorry later if you do.
Alright thank you all very much.
Doc, The simple answer: lay the track first. Dave
Doc,
Hi again.
Not to sound like a wise guy, just trying to be helpful here. I suggest you take the time to buy a couple of the Kalmbach beginner type books and read them. Of course the forums are good places to get info and I’m not trying to discourage you from posting, BUT the down side is you can almost get too much info online, overload so to speak, and many differing opinions on how to do the most basic things. So my suggestion to read a couple quality books on the basics will give you a starting point with proven techniques that work. Then in the future you will be more experienced and in a better position to wade through all the different ways to do the same thing you will read online, and decide which you want to try and those you want to take a pass on. I’m just afraid all this info here will seem confusing and intimidating, and you’ll just say to heck with it . . . too complicated.
And we don’t what THAT to happen. 8^D Go slow and learn well, it’s the journey and not necessarilly the destination type thing here. As they say - no layout is ever REALLY ever finished. Have fun along the way.
Take care,
I’ve always done track first, and made sure it worked. Ballasting is a messy business, and requires a good deal of clean up after you do it. For the rest of the scenery its best to cover the finished track, especially if you plan to do any rock carving.
For my next attempt however, I was thinking about trying something just a little different. By placing the roadbed first, then doing all of the terrain contours in foam with an overlay of laminated craft paper, the whole scene may look more natural, especially cuts, fills and ditches. The goal is to do it more like the way it happens in the real world, as if the railroad had to move the earth to make its path. Then lay the track and finish in the traditional manor. (This would mean reversing steps 2 and 3 from vsmith’s response.)
I saw an HO module a few years back, that had used this method, and thought it looked great. The brown craft paper gives a nice earth colored base to cover the brightly colored foam.