If the cork will crumble after a few years, and foam does too, what's the future hold for a layout or loop for running trains that will be moved every few years? No longevity? I am planning to build a loop to run my trains, since I don't want to assemple a nice modular layout, and disassemble it, and it get busted up.. Or the trackwork fall apart because the roadbed disintigrated. Should I use foam? I want it quiet, but easy to apply.
It seems to make sense to me that if you seal the cork or foam with ballast and adhesive, it will not disintegrate over time (or at least it will take a whole lot longer). It is the air that causes things to dry out and lose moisture over time. Covering the roadbed (i.e. ballasting your track) will prevent this or drastically slow this process down. I also know that heat will add to this effect, so keeping your layout in a semi-controlled environment will help too. [ 20 September 2001: Message edited by: mdrzycimski ]</p>
Our Ntrak club has modules ten years old with cork roadbed with no sign of degrading. I have heard of, but never witnessed, foam roadbed degrading when exposed to an ultraviolet light source or sunlight. Of course once ballasted the exposure would not exist. I always paint cork roadbed with a dark gray or black latex paint to seal it. I also use HO cork roadbed for mainline track after reading how the Pennsy mainline at Horseshoe curve was four feet higher than the original grade due to additional ballasting over the years.
