Any one use wood for roadbed? Not sub roadbed
- Thread starter ZimDalf
- Start date
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
True-Scale used to make wooden roadbed in 3 styles. PLain, meaning no ties, and it was available in only fixed radii and straight sections. The next one was the fixed radii, and straight sections, that had "ties" and "ties plates" cut in to the roadbed. The third atyle had ties cut into it, but also there were cuts partway across the roadbed, allowing you to shape and curve as you wished. Drawback was it was extremely fragile and could split on you. I don't know if it is still available from someone else as True-Scale has been OOB for many years.
I handlay my track, and I also can't get homasote here, unless I want to pay outrageous prices for it, as in almost $70.00 a sheet. I have found a substitute. It's called Insulated Sheathing. Its a fiberboard that comes 3 ways. Brown board, which has no coating on it at all. Blackboard, which has a black coating on one side. Then there's the sheathing that has the coating on all sides. This is a paint like coating to protect the board from water & such, as the board will come apart if exposed to the weather for a long time. Here that stuff is around $6.00 for a 4'x8' sheet. Its used as subsiding on homes. While it is very messy, (lots and lots of dust), It cuts easy on a table saw or with a circular saw. It is also easily cut with a utility knife. It is just a hair softer than homasote, but holds spikes extremely well. I cut out first 4" wide strips, and then take those strips and cut them in half, as they are 1/2" thick and just about all the commercial roadbeds are around 1/4" thickness. I will then then tilt the saw to a 45 to 60 degree angle and cut the "ballast" shape into it. This gives me 8' long straight sections. For curves, I cut partway across the roadbed, and this allows me to curve it as needed. I will admit that there is some sweat equity in it, but I would rather pay in sweat equity, than in cash for something I can do myself, and with a couple of hours work on the saw!
I also cut my own ties on the two table saws I have, a 10" and a 4", out of white knotless pine. For my layout I gues I've cut around 25-30,000. I still have another 4-5000 to cut.
I've used this on my past 3 layouts and
I handlay my track, and I also can't get homasote here, unless I want to pay outrageous prices for it, as in almost $70.00 a sheet. I have found a substitute. It's called Insulated Sheathing. Its a fiberboard that comes 3 ways. Brown board, which has no coating on it at all. Blackboard, which has a black coating on one side. Then there's the sheathing that has the coating on all sides. This is a paint like coating to protect the board from water & such, as the board will come apart if exposed to the weather for a long time. Here that stuff is around $6.00 for a 4'x8' sheet. Its used as subsiding on homes. While it is very messy, (lots and lots of dust), It cuts easy on a table saw or with a circular saw. It is also easily cut with a utility knife. It is just a hair softer than homasote, but holds spikes extremely well. I cut out first 4" wide strips, and then take those strips and cut them in half, as they are 1/2" thick and just about all the commercial roadbeds are around 1/4" thickness. I will then then tilt the saw to a 45 to 60 degree angle and cut the "ballast" shape into it. This gives me 8' long straight sections. For curves, I cut partway across the roadbed, and this allows me to curve it as needed. I will admit that there is some sweat equity in it, but I would rather pay in sweat equity, than in cash for something I can do myself, and with a couple of hours work on the saw!
I also cut my own ties on the two table saws I have, a 10" and a 4", out of white knotless pine. For my layout I gues I've cut around 25-30,000. I still have another 4-5000 to cut.
I've used this on my past 3 layouts and
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Sugar pine is a good soft pine that True scale used, as well as basswood.
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
He's talking about using wood for roadbed, as in the old True-Scale roadbed. He's not talking about the sub-roadbed at all. He's going to be handlaying his track, and can't get Homasote where he lives.
But Tru Scale isn't around any more so why even bring it up. Hand laying track can be done on spline roadbed also. Besides ZimDalf didn't tell us what kind of layout he's building.
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Because I thought I saw an ad for a company last year that was still producing it. I've also seen it offered at train shows as little as 6 months ago as NOS, still wrapped in plastic. Just because a product hasn't been available for years, doesn't mean it can't be bought. Ever heard of E-bay? I've bought a great deal of stuff there and at train shows that is no longer produced, and hasn't been for almost 40 years. What kind of layout he's building really shouldn't matter as to what roadbed he can use for spiking hand laid track into.
There's an old saying: "you know what thought did - nothing. And who hasn't heard of eBay. If it doesn't matter what kind of layout he's building why not hand lay track right on plywood. There's more than a few RRs that never had any roadbed.
Haha! It's all good! Turn's out I was wrong about Homasote not being available here!
And only $13 Canadian a 4' x 8' sheet!
Andy your right some rail lines had no (or anyway very little) ballast under them. I plan to cut the Homasote in half and have only just a smidge over a 1/8 of an inch of roadbed on the mainline. I'm doing a 1930's fictional short line on a island. The yard track will indeed be right on the sub-roadbed. In some spots I'll have a few scale feet of track buried into the mud no ties showing only the rail-heads.
Thanks Carey!
And only $13 Canadian a 4' x 8' sheet!
Andy your right some rail lines had no (or anyway very little) ballast under them. I plan to cut the Homasote in half and have only just a smidge over a 1/8 of an inch of roadbed on the mainline. I'm doing a 1930's fictional short line on a island. The yard track will indeed be right on the sub-roadbed. In some spots I'll have a few scale feet of track buried into the mud no ties showing only the rail-heads.
Thanks Carey!
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Carey
Since you only want at most 1/8" roadbed just use 1/8" sheet cork. As long as you're using wood ties (glued to cork), those will hold your spikes well enough. When you want rail heads only showing, glue the rails directly to the cork. Use "mud" strong enough to hold the rails good. Just make sure the gauge is "perfect" before doing it.
Seems like it would be alot of trouble to make 1/8" Homasote sheets from a 4' x 8' x 1/2" (thick) Homasote.
Since you only want at most 1/8" roadbed just use 1/8" sheet cork. As long as you're using wood ties (glued to cork), those will hold your spikes well enough. When you want rail heads only showing, glue the rails directly to the cork. Use "mud" strong enough to hold the rails good. Just make sure the gauge is "perfect" before doing it.
Seems like it would be alot of trouble to make 1/8" Homasote sheets from a 4' x 8' x 1/2" (thick) Homasote.
mantua mike
Member
If it helps anyone I have a bunch of old tru-scale wood turnouts.
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Andy, spiking into cork has never been a good idea. You only have the tie to hold the spike and unfortunately, that tie by itself is inadequate in its ability to hold the spike. Its generally the material that supports the tie that has the strength to hold the majority of that spike length. Using cork underneath only relies on that wood tie, since cork itself has no ability to hold anything as small as a spike, (ask me how I know), and is basically worthless as an under layment for handlain track. Using something more substantial like a soft wood like sugar pine or basswood, has been considered the best way, but due to it's cost, Homasote became the preferred material for handlaying back in the late 50's and early 60's and still is today. Homasote is sold in many areas, but is not available in all areas. I could get it here, but at almost $75 a sheet, no way. So I use an insulated sheathing that works very well.
Tru-scale did come in 1/4" thickness, same as cork.
), and is basically worthless as an under layment for handlain track. Using something more substantial like a soft wood like sugar pine or basswood, has been considered the best way, but due to it's cost, Homasote became the preferred material for handlaying back in the late 50's and early 60's and still is today. Homasote is sold in many areas, but is not available in all areas. I could get it here, but at almost $75 a sheet, no way. So I use an insulated sheathing that works very well.Tru-scale did come in 1/4" thickness, same as cork.
i have used tru scale roadbed in the past and found it far superior to homasote. it holds spikes much better, and doesn't warp like homasote.
with my latest layout due to the scarcity of tru scale, i have elected to lay track directly on the subroadbed, which is white pine. it hold the spikes very well, and track staying in guage has not been a problem after 5 years of use. plywood subroadbed would have been almost impossible to spike into, but the pine is soft enough that hasn't been a problem. if you go this route, get the straightest, most knot free pieces available.
jeffery s ward sr
pittsburgh, pa
with my latest layout due to the scarcity of tru scale, i have elected to lay track directly on the subroadbed, which is white pine. it hold the spikes very well, and track staying in guage has not been a problem after 5 years of use. plywood subroadbed would have been almost impossible to spike into, but the pine is soft enough that hasn't been a problem. if you go this route, get the straightest, most knot free pieces available.
jeffery s ward sr
pittsburgh, pa
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Jeff, you are very correct! White pine, that have little to no knots are what I cut my ties out of. I cut thin strips out of it using a 10" table saw, then I have a 4" table saw that I cut those strips down to size with. While not hard, cutting some 2-5000 ties can take a day. Right now I still have several hundred "blanks" as I call them, waiting to be cut to size.
The "secret" to hand laying, is to fine a substructure strong enough to hold spikes very well, but easy to spike into. I use the Code 83/70 spikes that Walthers sells, but these are really Shinohara spikes re-packaged. I've used Shinoharas spikes on 6 of my 8 layouts I've had. Never had a problem when they were driven in correctly.
The "secret" to hand laying, is to fine a substructure strong enough to hold spikes very well, but easy to spike into. I use the Code 83/70 spikes that Walthers sells, but these are really Shinohara spikes re-packaged. I've used Shinoharas spikes on 6 of my 8 layouts I've had. Never had a problem when they were driven in correctly.
i have made most of my ties out of cut down matchsticks. i glue them down and ballast the track before i lay the rail, and have found that this helps keep the ties from splitting. i have used mostly micro engineering spikes as they are what i can find in my area. matchstick ties glued directly to white pine dimentional lumber has worked well for me. i have a sturdy railroad and ero problems with spikes working loose.
on a previous layout i had tried to reuse homasote. the layout was originally my grandfather's, and hfter his passing my cousin stripped off all the track leaving the roadbed behind. when i attempted to handlay track on this layout the results were not good, with alot of thermal and moisture related expansion and contraction. the stresses this put on the track were enough to snap soldered rail joints, and the buckling of the rails made it impossible to keep the track in guage in certain areas. replacing the plywood and homasote with 1x8 pine planking cut to fit the curves, then relaying the track solved these problems, and i had no further trouble in the rebuilt areas.
on a previous layout i had tried to reuse homasote. the layout was originally my grandfather's, and hfter his passing my cousin stripped off all the track leaving the roadbed behind. when i attempted to handlay track on this layout the results were not good, with alot of thermal and moisture related expansion and contraction. the stresses this put on the track were enough to snap soldered rail joints, and the buckling of the rails made it impossible to keep the track in guage in certain areas. replacing the plywood and homasote with 1x8 pine planking cut to fit the curves, then relaying the track solved these problems, and i had no further trouble in the rebuilt areas.
