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I'm getting ready to finish up initial construction and track placement on my layout. The plan is to use pink insulation foam as a base layer, and stacked/sloped for my elevations. Once placed and carved to accommodate the track, should I also then use roadbed? If I don't use roadbed, will ballast look okay?
I dont agree with foam roadbed being expensive. $8 for a 24 ft roll. Id also debate that it wears out faster than cork. Cork is known to dry out over time and can break down. A foam product probably has petroleum in its ingredients somewhere is naturally lubricated.
But what do i know..Im not a salesman for Woodland Scenics, but I do play one on tv.
Cork does harden and dry out with age, but it really can't go anywhere. Foam is mostly air, and so when the plastic eventually degrades it can sort of collapse into itself. Of course, it's covered in gravel and track and thus shielded from light, but it still won't last forever.
Neither material is what I'd call perpetually stable, but when cork gets old it'll still support the track, while foam rubber crumbles.
IF you want to experiment, you can try a roll of rubber shelf liner (like you'd put in your kitchen drawers and cabinets). It's about 2-3 millimeters thick and comes in black, tan or white (at least). You'd have to cut it to track width, but it's only about $5 for a 10 sq ft roll. I don't think you'd have to bevel it if you intend to ballast.
I have no idea how long it would last, although none of my layouts with cork or WS foam have degraded / rotted. (Maybe that's b/c of the conditions in my place or I just don't keep one layout long enough.)
I'm redoing my N-scale HCD layout and am going to try the stuff myself.
IF you want to experiment, you can try a roll of rubber shelf liner (like you'd put in your kitchen drawers and cabinets). It's about 2-3 millimeters thick and comes in black, tan or white (at least). You'd have to cut it to track width, but it's only about $5 for a 10 sq ft roll. I don't think you'd have to bevel it if you intend to ballast.
I'm using Polyisocyanurate Rigid Foam Insulation board..comes in 4 x 8 sheets and is 1" thick..I glued it straight to the plywood and gluesd the track straight to it. Its now a styrofoam product, it looks more like a fiber board..very light weight and easy to use.
Thanks all! Definitely some things to mull over here.
I'll admit: I'm struggling a bit with how to approach this. I like the idea of using the roadbed to help with the appearance of ballast, but I can't quite wrap my brain around running the track to structures that mate to the track (I have the turntable, car shop, and roundhouse). Should I just elevate the buildings and have slope from them down to ground? Should I surface mount the buildings to my foam base (1/2" thick blue insul foam from Lowes) and slope the track from the roadbed to ground at a reasonable rate? Or, elevate the entire yard, directly mounting the the track to ground and butting up the roadbed from the rest of the layout to the yard ground slope? I'm running myself in circles trying to plan the best approach and not coming up with anything ... so, I guess I'll just let my choices ramble their way onto the forum
I sand down cork to whatever height / thickness I want. Say your mainline cork roadbed is 1/4 -inch thick and you have a spur that will sit at ground level like in a scrapyard. Once you glue down your cork you can gently sand down the spur to almost nothing so the track is now sitting at ground level on the spur. Or you could build up the ground around the roadbed with spackle, etc to the roadbed height, making it look like the roadbed sinks into the ground.
Some people have had good results sanding down WS foam roadbed but I've never tried that myself.
Might be best to get some different stuff and experiement before you commit to buying any particular product in bulk. I don't think that any one approach is vastly better than any other...
Hi Ian: Here's my 2 cents worth. Yard tracks probably would not be on a raised road bed. I would lay the tracks on the foam and ballast with dirt, cinders, etc. Then your TT, roundhouse,etc, would be at ground level with the tracks. DJ.
Grampys is right....Yards generally don't have roadbed so there is no problem as far as mating T'table tracks to yard tracks and such. With a girder and riser frame as I've used, mating the mainlines leaving the yards is easily done by setting the risers 1/4" lower to compensate for the added height of the roadbed. What you may want to do is set the yard on a 1/4" piece of ply so it sits higher than the rest of the layout, and the roadbed will fit quite nicely up against the yard area.
I have used rolls of cork (~1/8" thick and 18" wide) for the same reason. Not sure where I got it but it is used for gaskets on cars and such. It does make things a bit quieter if you have a solid top deck (which i do)
