Question on cork roadbed.

[pmrossetti]

seems to be the prefered roadbed. why do you use 2 small strips rather than one piece cork roadbed?

 

[Cjcrescent]

It will bend easier, and lay down flatter than a non-split cork.

 

[Rico]

It's hard to bend one piece around curves, easier to bend two thinner strips.

I'm thinking there's less waste cutting a bevel into the middle of a strip than
cutting the edges also.

 

[Motley]

When I was complete newb, the first time I bought some cork roadbed, I thought, what the hell, it's defective, it's got a split down the middle.

 

[jdetray]

why do you use 2 small strips rather than one piece cork roadbed?

When you split the cork down the middle, you end up with a beveled edge on each of the two pieces. The beveled edge goes on the outside edge of the track, giving your roadbed a sloped profile, which is more realistic than a flat vertical edge.

As others have mentioned, the split pieces are easy to form into curves, whereas a solid piece of cork would be much more difficult to curve.

So you start with the unsplit cork out of the package:

Then you split the cork down the middle, giving you two beveled edges:

Then you lay one half of the cork:

Finally, lay the second half of the cork:

I use cheap latex caulk to glue the cork to the subroadbed. I use pushpins to hold the cork in place while the caulk cures. Then I glue down the other half of the cork.

Good luck!

- Jeff

 

[pmrossetti]

thanks!
but doesn't the beveled edge get covered by ballast anyway?

 

[Motley]

Yes it gets covered by the ballast. But you groom the ballast so that it covers the beveled edge, but don't pile it up too much.

Also notice that I painted the side of the rail. This is called weathering the rails, because they are too shiny. I used the floquil rail paint pen, it works great.

 

[pmrossetti]

looks really neat.
is that code 83 or 100?
black ties? don't like brown?

thanks!!!

 

[Motley]

Code 83. Yes I like the black ties.

 

[jdetray]

but doesn't the beveled edge get covered by ballast anyway?

Yes, it does get covered with ballast. However, it is far easier to get a properly sloped ballast profile when the edge of the cork roadbed is beveled.

- Jeff