How many here have laid their track directly on foam without cork or WS foam ballast strips? How do you feel about noise issues with it? I am thinking of making a very small branch line style layout and want a lower relief ballast bed. How does this effect scenery?
Model Railroad Rule # 1 applies here. You'll get different answers with people pushing their favorite way. In the end it is your railroad to do as you like.
True. I've tried track directly on extruded foam and found it too noisy for my tastes but it wasn't extreme. If you're using foam for your substrate, I don't see that it would have any effect on scenery. Cut the foam down for lower elevations, build it up for higher as usual.
I'm laying track directly on foam. So far no problems! (I have 1/2" plywood under the foam, not sure if that matters). Just make sure to paint the foam under the turnouts before you lay that track. Pink shines through so much more than plywood or cork! But use laytex paint if you use acrylic caulk to lay the track, as spray paint reacts with the caulk & melts the foam. (Which you can see in forground along the edges of the cork roadbed of the lower line). Have fun! --Mark
I used roadbed for the mains, branchlines and spurs directly on the foam. I like the difference in between the tracks.
the noise factor depends on what's under your foam. If you have foam on ply, the sound won't be bad. but if you have just foam it tends to be quite a bit louder.
Yep, I lay track on foam. I lay my track directly on the foam. Like m.c. litton, I paint the foam first with latex paint and mount it with latex caulk. Having grown up around Lionel trains, I expect a little noise from running models. My layout shares a room with a furnace and an induced-draft water heater. So, when either of those are running, I don't hear the insignificant noise of the trains. Like you, I am modeling a small branch line. Mine is nestled in the woods of the Ohio River valley. Here's a before shot and an after shot of the same area. First, an aerial view: Second, the railfan-eye view: How does this affect scenery? You be the judge. I believe foam roadbed is very easy to modify (been there, done that). Shaping trackside ditches can be done at any time. In this scene above, I could cut new ditches in the foam within 10 minutes of re-wetting the ballast and ground cover. Using the hard shell methods from my past would make for a large and messy modification. For examples of modifications, look at my 2008/2009 Layout Party and Projects / Experiments albums. Foam made those changes very straightforward.
Thanks, John, for your kind words. Yes, indeed I use Peco code 55. I like it because it is extremely rugged and the turnouts don't need ground throws.
I was pondering between Peco code 55 and Atlas and I think your trackword has sold me. I'm going to be building a small portable layout soon and I need something rugged.
I see many people talking about latex caulk. I have some silicone caulk. Will that work with foam/cork roadbed/track?
While it may initially work, you may create some unintended consequences. My experience with silicone products leads me to expect the bond to the plastic ties of your track will be weak and prone to premature failure. The smell of the curing silicone, especially when you increase its surface area by spreading, will likely be pretty strong. If you choose to apply ballast using water-based glue, I expect you won't get any bond at all between dried ballast and the silicone. Bottom line: yes, you probably can use silicon, but no, you probably shouldn't. It's likely to create more problems than it can solve. Use caution.
