I am trying to model approx. a 6’ length of HO code 100 track on my layout that is embeded in the street with traffic passing on either side. It will be a Trolley scene on my layout, something similar to what I grew up with on the streets of Philadelphia. I was thinking of using WS Smooth-it, there would be a road on either side of the trolley track. My problem is pouring smooth-it in between the track rails and how to I make the groove for the clearance of the wheel flanges. Can it be done as the smooth-it dries. I have seen a WS video of how to do a crossing this way but nothing where 6’ of track will be embeded in the smooth-it. Any ideas?
I believe there were some MR articles on this some time ago, but I can’t find them unfortunately. Pryke may have been the modeller.
i thought in some places, they have two rails forming the groove. But if you try googling for images of rail embedded in roads, i see very few with rails. What about using some thinly cut foam that could be removed with acetone after things dry?
1mm craft foam works well on code 100 track. It can go the full width of the rails without interfering with flanges, as long as your wheels don’t have pizza cutters.
I’ve been working on a short section of street. If you can wait till tomorrow, I’ll post a better picture than this one with an explanation how to do it.
Steve S
Woodman,
What I used to do years ago. Used plaster for the streets, smooth it will probably work the same. Take a wheeled freight car truck, pizza cutter will work also and a little while before the mix sets, run the wheeled truck back and forth over the area’s pushing it with your finger pressing down on the truck bolster. Leave alone till dry, instant grooves. Wash the truck in warm soapy water.
Always worked for me!
Frank
You could take some square styrene strips, maybe 1/16" or a size smaller. Lay it inside each rail, then spread the Smooth-It in between. When the Smooth-It dries, lift out the strips. Seems to there was a video on doing a road (grade) crossing doing this. Don’t know why it wouldn’t work on a long section too.
Good luck,
Richard
There’s only one problem with that way. The strips will chip and take the smooth it with them. If the smooth it sticks to the rail ties, why would it not stick to the strips. If anyone did want to do it that way, leave a gap between the rail and strips and leave the strips there, when dried.
Frank
Frank,
I think if you take the strips out before the Smooth-It is fully cured, it comes out without chipping. Don’t think it was Smooth-It in the video, but I was something similar, though I’ve never used Snooth-It.
Have fun,
Richard
Richard,
Might work on some other than smooth-it. But it seems, to me anyway, a lot of work for six feet of street trackwork. Not knowing for sure if it will work.
Take Care!
Frank
Now that I thiink of it some more, I think the video was in the Dream-Plan-Build series. I did look under the HOW TO section above and went to Realistic Scenery, there is one called “Making a Dirt Grade Crossing” which by using the proper color paint should work.
Good luck,
Richard
Ah woodman,
You bring back old memories. I went to the U of P from 1949 through 1953. A trolley went by right under my bedroom window. After abiout a week I never did hear it.
Good luck with the trolley and then you could do the El. [:D]
Bob
Most rail in heavy traffic streets is laid with girder rail, which has a built-in flangeway and a lip on the inside of that flangeway at the desired pavement height or above. If you don’t want to go Proto87 on this, a very thin strip of styrene CA’d to the rail base and ties of to-be-buried flex can simulate it.
Note that, unless the pavement is relatively new, the part above under-the-asphalt ties tends to sink and get beaten up - chips, cracks and even mini-potholes are common. That’s why a lot of in-the-street track would have a tie-width of brick or Belgian block along the rails.
In a recently constructed (Post-2000) industrial area, the access to the doors of one warehouse has both rails and asphalt. It appears that the asphalt was laid right up to railhead height, then the first freight cars in cut their own flangeways. If you do this with a model freight truck, prefer one of the NEM (aka pizza cutters) to RP25 flanges - or just cut them with a strip of styrene.
One club I once belonged to had rail laid in a concrete street. The concrete was Portland cement…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Woodman, several good responses have been posted already. I’m not familiar with the product you’re talking about but have done several of my dirt road grades with Durabond45 and used a freight truck with pizza cutters to form grooves as has been stated already. Before it sets hard, I run a razor blade along the rail tops, cleaning the Durabond between the rails right down to rail height; doing the same thing on each side allows me to taper it down from the rail. Once the Durabond sets I clean the grooves along the rails carefully by running a small screwdriver along the inside of each rail, then some careful work with a damp cleaning sponge and the rails are good to go. Paint appropriately, or in the case of my last crossing, my fill between and outside was slightly less, followed by dirt/sand and 50/50 glue/water for a more realistic look. Same pizza-cutter equipped truck and screwdriver work was applied.
Happy RR’ing!
Duane
Plaster, Durbond or Durham’s wood putty work well for the pavement between the rails. I perfer Hydrocal (dyed). As the plaster sets you can use any of the methods either rolling a truck through or styrene strips. The strip may be troublesome on your quite long area to pave. They need to be removed at just the right time to not chip wreck the plaster edge. Dying the plaster, allows you to “carve, scrape” the grooves for proper flange clearance. A cut piece of hacksaw blade is a good tool to clean out the 'groove".
Girder rail, as mentioned, is the better option for this, however, handlaying and having to use a “special” bender, is not practicle for just a project as this working w/ flextrack.
The road below is a special case where the track within the road looks like a gauntlet, however it is a long extended switch carrying 4 rails. was a bit harder to pave.
(click to enlarge.)
I used 1mm black craft foam on code 100 track. The stuff at Michael’s is 2mm (Hobby Lobby’s is even thicker), which is fine for roads without track, but for street trackage you’ll need to order some 1mm. An eBay seller named Wandy-Foam sells it.
The white foam underneath is Readiboard from the Dollar Tree store. While you’re there, get some LA’s Awesome spray cleaner. Spray it all over the board, wait a minute, and then peel off the paper layers. Do both sides or it may warp. You’ll be left with a foam sheet that’s a few millimeters thick. I sanded the white foam to give the road a crown. I also sanded in some dips and ruts, though they don’t show up very well in the photos. They need to be exaggerated.
The paint is water-based craft paint from Michael’s or Walmart. You can buy shades of gray paint, but if you want to mix your own, mixing black with white will result in a blueish tint. I mixed black with a light tan (suede) to remove any tint. I dabbed it on using a damp kitchen sponge. Look for a sponge that doesn’t have any sort of pattern embossed into it. I also cut the sponge in half, using one half to apply the paint. The other was kept clean and damp and was used to remove paint if needed, such as the dark areas down the middle of the lanes. You want to dab the sponge on something else first, such as a piece of cardboard, to remove some paint (sort of like dry brushing.)
Years ago I read a method that sounded good, but may be a struggle. The writer soldered smaller code hand-lay rail against the trolley rail after rotating the hand-lay 90 degrees and butting the hand-lay railhead against the web of the trolley rail. You’d have to be pretty good with a soldering iron, and I’d probably tin the hand-lay railhead on the bench before trying it. Then heat the outside of the trolley rail while pressing the hand-lay railhead to the inside, or maybe a few office supply binder clips would work if they didn’t act as a heat sink. The benefit is, you have a ready made form (the hand-lay base flange) for filling in the center, no plaster debris to clean off the trolley rail, and the trucks never contact anything that isn’t powered metal. I wonder if CA would work instead of soldering.
This is a section of girder rail on my layout. I used both the rail and the cobblestones from Proto87:
A link to Proto87 is here: http://www.proto87.com/easy-street-track-system.html
This is essentially hand-laying small segments of track, without ties. It’s not easy, and there is some learning curve, too, but the results are very nice. The cobblestones come in sheets, in the tan color. The gray cobbles were painted and weathered. Proto87 makes a variety of paving patterns