Track road bed

[Xaniel]

Hello,

What should I use to make road bed? I know that woodland scenics has road bed... but should I use this or make some road bed with some cork?

I use Peco code 80(i'm a beginner, code 55 would be to hard for me) in N scale.

And what about ballasting? Should I use the PVA/water solution or do you have some other ideas?

Thank you for your time!

 

[shamus]

Originally posted by Xaniel
Hello,

What should I use to make road bed? I know that woodland scenics has road bed... but should I use this or make some road bed with some cork?

I use Peco code 80(i'm a beginner, code 55 would be to hard for me) in N scale.

And what about ballasting? Should I use the PVA/water solution or do you have some other ideas?

Thank you for your time!

Hi Luis,
For the road bed I personally use 1/2" chipboard with 1/2" insulation board(Sound noard) on top. This stuff is easy to apply track pins into.
As for ballasting, check out the academy/archives, there is an article on track ballasting which I wrote.

Shamus

 

[rich maiorano]

I was going ask you that if your way work with n-scale track too and will be going that way my self

 

[rockislandmike]

I use the Woodlands Scenics foam cork bed myself. I personally find the cork roadbed too tall, and I also find the foam easier to work with. I've heard arguments both ways about noise conductivity, so my layout is foam.

I was thinking about using something different for the yard, but they also sell sheets the same thickness in large size (can't remember the exact dimensions, but it's 11 x 17 type proportions). So just to keep everything the same height with as little fiddling as possible, I'm gonna use that for the yard as well.

 

[csxnscale]

About balasting, I tryed something for a small diorama and it seems to work great.
I mix 1/3 wallpaper glue in powder form with 2/3 of balast.
Spread the dry mixture on the rails.
And spray with a plant spray filled with water and a few drops of diswasher soap.
After a day or two your balast is hard as a rock.

Paul

 

[Chessie]

Hi Luis
For my yard I purchased sheet cork from a building supply, it comes in 4' width and as long as you want and it is cheep enough.
Mike

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Luis I model a shortline and lay the track right on the foam. I ballast with a 50/50 mix of dirt and Woodland Scenics fine ballast held in place with a white glue/ water mix. For spurs and yard tracks I ballast with dirt only. For the mainline interchange with the connecting railroads I use AMI Instant Roadbed and ballast with the fine ballast only (no dirt).