I’ve seen it suggested in a number of articles that you use N scale cork roadbed for sidings and HO scale for mainline. How do you make a smooth transition between the two?
Mike,
Woodland Scenics makes a foam ramp that you can use. I don’t particularly like this method but if you have another use somewhere else on the layour for the rest of the material it will serve the purpose.
What I prefer is to layer styrene strips one atop the other, starting at the bottom with one that is at least the length of the longest car to use the track. Each successive layer is shorter. The end result is a ramp. You can eyeball it until it looks right and then do some test runs. You want to make sure that the grade is gradual enough that the cars don’t uncouple.
John Timm
A quarter-sheet pad sander does a great job. Glue the cork roadbed down with plain old white glue and then once it has dried for a day or two use a small pad sander to create minor grade transitions from mainline to sidings and smooth out any bumps or other irregularties on all the rest of the layout.
I’ve used cedar shims to go from cork to foam. They might work here,too.
Terry
I use a sanding block to taper the HO cork down to the level of the N cork. Be sure to leave the transition as long as is practicle for trouble free operation. Also be careful to keep the sanded area level from side to side.
I’ve used a converse technique for WS foam roadbed over pink extruded. I sanded a long narrow ramp into the subroadbed. the HO roadbed sinks gradually into this hole until about half is submerged. Then the N stuff begins on the normal surface of the board. This also works for transitioning from roadbed to none for industrial track. Once the ballast is on you can’t tell how the transition was made.
Some interesting ideas here. I used thin cardboard (like used in a dress shirt) and built up layers gradually to bring the N scale roadbed up to the HO height.
–Randy
Cork sands real EZ with some 100 grit sand paper. Home Depot and other big box stores sell door and window shims. This are a pack of wood shims that tapper from about 5/16" down to zero. They are just about the width of HO roadbed. They make great ramps for parking lots and loading dock areas too.
You get a big pack of them for about $5.