Track bedway

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david_in_kansas

New Member
I would like input on using the preformed track bed....I see it in rolls. I wondered what the pros and cons are for it . I am just finishing my table...starting with a 4 x 8 and would like some input on what experienced modelers have done. Thanks!
 
david_in_kansas said:
I would like input on using the preformed track bed....I see it in rolls. I wondered what the pros and cons are for it . I am just finishing my table...starting with a 4 x 8 and would like some input on what experienced modelers have done. Thanks!
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You mean like this? http://www.hobbylinc.com/woodland-t...MIm83JnvTw9QIVoRx9Ch3pQwnzEAQYAiABEgI2QfD_BwE

I have used it from time to time. I don't know if my experience is recent enough for pros and cons. Especially as I've not priced any lately. I can say it works fine. Looks fine. While it is tempting don't use staples to put it down. That makes it bumpy. One has to have a really sharp hobby knife to split it for the curves. It is a little spongier than I like. I have always gone back to cork.
 


david_in_kansas said:
Yes that is what I was looking at..would cork be better ? which do you think would bend for curved track better ?
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Here is a video from the vendor. It shows (eventually) how to do a curve. Either this or cork have to "stretch" a bit to do a curve. I am am not remembering but I would think the foam would stretch easier. With cork I put down the inside half of the curve first, let it dry and then lay slightly stretching the outside against it.

https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/video/InstallingTrackBed?start=80
 
I am a big fan of the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed. I found it very easy to work with. I have done my curves just like the video that Iron has on his post. I think it is very easy to use when placing turnouts on a layout. The other thing that I like about the foam is that you can purchase it in large square sections for yards. I used green 4x8 sheets of insulation from Lowes as my sub roadbed. I then used Elmer's Glue All to adhere the foam roadbed to the insulation. It stays in place just fine. It is also easy to lift up the foam roadbed in the event you have a change in plans for the track on your layout. I also used Elmer's to adhere the track to the roadbed.
One thing I would suggest if you decide to use the foam roadbed. I painted the foam before gluing track to it. I used cheap Walmart granite gray acrylic paint. It gives the layout a nice look until I get the time to ballast the track.
I will be interested to see if anyone has had a bad experience while ballasting foam as opposed to cork. The foam has a higher profile than cork and I wonder if that has a negative affect on ballasting.
 
I am using the Woodland Scenics foam road bed. I am a rank amateur as this is my first ever layout (though i am age 61). I am finding it very easy to work and am enjoying the experience. Here are two shots:
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I can cut this with scissors, and have learned that if you tip the scissors to the approx angle of the taper, you caneasily cut and make extension bits for TO diverging legs. Not at home so cannot take a picture of what I mean. I am using the WS tacky foam glue for the roadbed to painted insul-foam. Just us T-pins to secure, no weight. For track to roadbed, I use DAP Alex plus clear latex caulk.

Because I am a rank amateur, I have had to pull some track, and some foam roadbed, and it is easy to do using a good flexible putty knife WITH CARE. The foam roadbed does not always come up super-clean, but I have been able to reuse it.

Bottom line: I am happy with my choice.
 

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I used cork roadbed when I first built my layout 40 years ago, which I nailed to the plywood base, then nailed the track into it, I think with brads long enough to get through the track, roadbed, and into the plywood; I'm not sure how long they are. I'm getting ready to tear it and the track out (right now it is sectional Atlas track from 40 years ago and has never had a locomotive run on it). I'm also slightly altering the track plan, so I figured I may as well start fresh. I found the cork to be easy enough, I have some 18" and 22" radius curves, and it was never an issue to bend the cork around them.
As I did when I first put down the track, I'm planning on using cork roadbed again, and nailing it and the track down once again, no adhesive. I don't know if adhesive was popular 40 years ago. With the Atlas sectional track I used, it was simple to do since it came with holes in the ties spaced out every so often, which they still do. This time around, I'm going with Peco track and turnouts, and still plan on using nails (brads, tacks, whatever you want to call them), drilling holes in the Peco ties as I go.
I don't know if foam substrate was as popular back then as it seems to be now. What's the reason to use adhesives on both the track and the roadbed? It seems to be the way everyone is going about it these days. The only negative I can think with nails is some people claim it will increase the noise because the nails will transfer vibration to the plywood. I have a hard time believing it's enough of a difference to hear.
Are there other compelling reasons for using foam, cork, and adhesives, compared to just cork directly on plywood, and everything nailed in place? It seems it will be much easier to make changes, just pulling nails rather than scraping glue.
Another consideration in my case is because of timing and budget, I am planning on going very simple with DC at first, and just powering what are the two mains (what are essentially figure eights with overpasses). Simple enough that I will just have two powerpacks, one for each main, and just two pairs of wires, one for each pair of tracks. So, I will be pulling things up in the future to add switch motors, frog juicers, block detection, DCC, etc etc, as, and if, the budget allows.
 


GandG_North said:
What's the reason to use adhesives on both the track and the roadbed? It seems to be the way everyone is going about it these days. The only negative I can think with nails is some people claim it will increase the noise because the nails will transfer vibration to the plywood. I have a hard time believing it's enough of a difference to hear.
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It isn't just nails. Nails and sectional track are a marriage made in heaven. It is nails with flex track. Physics says that a curve will want to straight line between two fixed points. With adhesives for the track it is easier to get nice smooth curves instead of flat spots between the nails and tighter curves at the nails. As you say it is sometimes hard to believe just looking at it with the eyes but when a radius tool ("like a ribbon rail") is used one can find the anomalies. Is it enough to really matter. Who knows. I still use both as the situation calls for. Sometimes I use both at the same time.

Noise is another thing. Story here. I built two modules and a friend built two. I used insta-bed (asphalt roadbed), he used none. We took them to a mall train show so it was a hard smooth floor. When the train went from my module onto his it sounded like the trail was derailing because of the increased noise. From that point on I experimented with noise reduction and the nails do make a difference. Not nearly as much as roadbed vs no roadbed. Foam roadbed is quieter than the asphalt. The asphalt is quieter than cork. The interesting thing is that a some of the noise comes back when the ballast is glued down. The glue starts transmitting the sound around the roadbed. Who'd a thunk that.
 
MilwRoader_Steve said:
I am using the Woodland Scenics foam road bed. I am a rank amateur as this is my first ever layout (though i am age 61). I am finding it very easy to work and am enjoying the experience. Here are two shots:


Bottom line: I am happy with my choice.
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Two questions: How quiet is it? Does it require any special techniques to paint and ballast the roadbed?

Thanks.
 
boatwrench said:
Two questions: How quiet is it? Does it require any special techniques to paint and ballast the roadbed?

Thanks.
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1. So far, very nice and quiet. I can tell a difference from the Atlas Tru-Track which was my temp oval and the foam. Trains creep silently along. I have one Bowser diesel that is virtually silent or near enough so. And it travels the rails in majestic silence.

2. Cannot report as I have not yet gotten to the ballast phase. Sorry. My research, but I will defer to more experienced voices, suggests that ballasting should be the exact same process as with cork. Now I have further read that once the ballast is glued down then you have a direct and sound-conductive path for the vibrations of the locomotive. IOW, I think sound level will go up with glued ballast, but cannot say for sure yet.

Hope this helps.
 
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