I am wondering what every one is using for a base on there layouts now. I saw the new article in Model Railroader about flex track and it looked like the guy was laying track strait onto Homesate or MDF. Is that stuff a alternative to using the foam and corkbed. I really dislike the black foam road bed. the only challange would be to get the look of ballst along the rails.
You will get a lot of opinions on this. I would say plywood and extruded foam lead the way, but the choice is yours. Foam does give the opportunity to carve below grade scenery. Often folks use foam glued to a thinner plywood, seems to reduce noise.
Most folks use some sort of roadbed on top of the base, either cork or the foam type, there are others, homosote being one, but they seem to be less common. The reason most use it is to raise the track to look more like the real thing when they get it ballasted. It also makes it so you can slope your tracks down to sidings and yards, which is a typical practice. You certainly do not need to use it as track can be attached to a flat surface and trains will run fine. If you are modeling a big yard, it would be unnecessary as the yard would all be low, ballast and fill clost to track level.
Good luck,
I recently tried two different versions: 1 - the tried and true homesote no plywood and 2 - sound deadening board on plywood. The homesote does a superior job at holding track nails but is expensive and hard to shape. You either have to cut it in a cookie-cutter pattern which is very wasteful or cut it in strips and then cut kerfs in it to bend it around curves. Either way, cutting it creates a ton of dust. The sound deadening board was a cheaper alternative to homesote. I bought it at home depot in 4’ x 8’ sheets. While it didn’t hold track nails as well as homesote, it did so adequately. It is easier to cut but still produces a lot (but not quite as much) dust as homesote. It is fairly rough so I had to paint it to seal the surface. I also used it as a sheet on top of the plywood and laid cork roadbed over it to create a ballast profile. That looked pretty good and was fairly quite (sound board absorbs the sound).
However, for all of that, I’m thinking of trying pink or blue foam board (no plywood) with cork roadbed for my next layout. Lighter weight and easier cutting.
- Jeff
Perhaps Mr. Pryke would let us know what he used; it looks like Homosote. This is a yard area, is it not, with no profile other than the ballasted areas of track. Cork or Homabed roadbed creates a suitable profile for the track base.
I used 5/8" plywood covered with 2" of foam. This allows me to easily cut in ravines, low marshes, rivers, brooks, etc. I use WS inclines and risers for elevated tracks through the hills and mountains. The track bed is both cork in some areas and WS rubber in other areas for my own evaluation. Both seem excellent, the WS is easier to work with.