Just curious if anyone is not using any type of roadbed and laying the track directly on the foam board. I see lots of discussion about which type of roadbed to use on the board but havent seen anything about not using any. Thanks.
In order to get a difference in the height between main line tracks and yard tracks (sidings), I use N scale cork for my (N scale) main line and lay the yards directly on the blue foam.
I laid track directly on foam on my last layout--didn't work any different than laying on cork. I used latex Liquid Nails for adhesive.
Do you mean - roadbed - as in cork or special foam or? Do you mean - sub roadbed as in homosoat or foam? I use Kato which comes with roadbed and transitions to foam in my yards and spurs. This process gives a visual effect and in the yards creates a slight "hump" if you use magnetic uncoupling at that point the cars roll to the end.
What I was thinking was laying the track directly on the blue foam without any sort of roadbed. The track isnt attached right now but I cant hear any difference between having roadbed and not having roadbed. Of course the spousal unit says that I am hard of hearing but funny how she cant hear any difference either. The layout is only 2' x 4' with 2 inches of blue foam on top of a light frame and the bottom of the frame enclosed with a piece of masonite. I realize things may be different once all of the track is firmly attached. Just wondered if anyone went without any sort of roadbed, be it cork or WS foam. Thanks!
N Scale 2x4 feet 2" blue foam Short trains - proportionate to the layout Relatively slow trains - proportionate to the layout Small locos I would not expect noisome noise. I'd say lay some down using white glue and test it. If you only have an inch of foam I'd suggest another inch which would let you make depressions such as a river or pond.
Well that is the plan anyway as far as the size goes. Budget and space wont allow for a larger layout at this time but this one will have capabilities to add to it in the future. I was thinking small diesel switchers with ore cars and beer can tank cars might work ok. With everything running fairly slow I dont seem to get much noise. Was thinking of using latex caulk to put down the track. Thanks for the help.
In some of my "pooly maintained" industrial spurs, I am planning to lay the track directly on the board with a minimum of ballast and heavy weathering to the rails and the ties to simulate seldom used tracks. On my mainlines and yards, I plan to keep the tracks on a cork roadbed.
I don't use foam board - tried it & found it was way noisier than the no-warp hardboard I had been using which is already "dirt brown". I attach the track directly to the hardboard a la David Barrow's 'Dominoes', then spray paint and lightly ballast. If/when I want to make changes, everything comes up in a jiffy -- even somewhat fragile code 83 flex track. If the hardboard needs to be replaced -- no worries! I keep a stash of 2' x 4' panels on hand, and can have the new unit in place in 5 minutes.
I modle G scaleand dontuse aroadbed. I'm modling a mom andpop type short line so there ismore cinder then stone. On sidings you cant see much of the ties and some weeds.
For years I have been using a foamcore display board material mounted to the plywood subroad bed. The display board is light weight; comes in a variety of thicknesses and in 4' X 8' sheets. It is easy to cut into curves and other shapes with a hobby knife. I hand lay my ties and rails so the smooth, even surface of this material works very well for me ... and trains run fairly quiet on it as far as I can tell. I buy this material at an arts & craft supply store in Medford, OR. (there's no stores around here that offer this material). I'm not saying this is the 'ONLY' way of doing things for everyone ... it just works for me.
I won't use roadbed. The N layout I'm building is a shortline with weeds along and between the tracks. Ties will have a slight covering of stone roadbed, showing years of wear. I decided not to use roadbed because of health reasons, including arthritis which limits my hands' ability to handle small objects. If I had no arthritis, I'd probably still go with crappy looking roadbed because that's what my weedy, no hurry road will be.
My layout is blue foam atop hollow core doors. Just today I finished the last of my ballasting for a new phase of the layout. I don't use cork (or any other) roadbed atop the foam. I glue the track to the foam using PolySeamSeal all-purpose adhesive/caulk. I have used latex painters' caulk as well. Until I have ballast in place, the train noises are accentuated by the exposed foam surface (painted with latex paint). However, once the track is ballasted and the surrounding surfaces are scenicked, the noise is significantly reduced to a level I'm content with. If you want to model Class I railroads with manicured ballast and tidy right-of-way, then cork roadbed can help achieve that look. If you want to model slower paced, backwater branch lines with low maintenance budgets, then the roadbed may not be necessary. In my opinion, cork roadbed doesn't enhance train performance. You can lay good track over rough substrate, ballast it well and have great reliability, just as I have done. My RailImages show several examples of my finished track.
Todd those photos look great! What I am going to do is attach the track directly to the foam with gray latex caulk. I laid out all of the track and marked it with a sharpie then removed it so I could cut a "V" notch on both sides of the ties with a mat cutter. Every thing will get a coat of the tan latex paint then the roadbed gets painted gray. Think of it as a temporary roadbed until I ballast which I wont do until I have done a bit of scenery work. I am using gray paint and gray caulk to match the ballast so when I screw up something it hopefully wont show too bad. (Never done ballast before). The "V" notches will kinda keep the ballast from wandering all over the place. At least thats the way it looked in the test track anyway. Well thats the plan wish me luck! Thanks everyone. -Walter
