Roadbed before or after?

I have been working on the layout and I had a thought. When is the best time to put down roadbed? Before the plaster or after the terrain is in place?

 

The usual sequence is to construct your framework first, and then your sub-roadbed, choosing materials that will result in the required stiffness. Then you lay the roadbed and the track on top of that. Then you wire, and then you begin scenicking.

This sequence makes a lot of sense, as we have to wire things together, and that could be really hard with scenery already in place.

A few people have proposed doing it more prototypically--that is, constructing the scenery first, then building the railroad. I think that method doesn't "scale down" very well, as grading plaster makes a real mess for our N scale engines, a mess that real engines don't face. I think it doesn't scale down even for foam board. But you could always try.

 

I tried some scenery before the track.
Seemed to make sense at the time.

I found that it's not worth it,
just put masking tape over your track.

Loco1999

 

I would suggest roadbed way before scenery. If you err, it is a lot easier to correct without scenery in the way. I know from hard experience.

 

I would agree w/ Fotheringill - put your roadbed/track in WAY before your scenery, and run alot of trains over it to make sure it's bulletproof before you put your scenery in. Correcting trackwork in completed scenery is no fun. . .

We're assuming you are talking your RAILroad bed, right, and not pavement road bed? In either case, I've found it's better to put the roads in first and then scenic around it.

 

I agree with adding everything AFTER - speaking from recent (i.e. like right now) experience....and it looks like I'm ripping up all my track due to some running problems...just not satisfied. All that ballast is going to make a mess when I scrape the track off!

 

It worked OK for me doing scenery at last, but before ballasting, although this last step could also be done in reverse order (ie ballast, then do scenery)

This way you'll have plenty of opportunity to test your track and find problems before they find you...

hth
Michael

 

Further-

I would do my basic ballast (to make sure track and roadbed will NOT ever again move or shift) before scenery. It is critical that the rail joints never break connection while trains operating on it. You can then put finishing touches and whatever in ballasting in conjunction with other scenery.

 

Mike:

Put your roadbed and track down before you do any scenery.


Have fun....

 

Maybe it is a good idea to start scenery in one corner of the layout, to try and to have some place for photos of your models.
I took photos of my loaded cars on a bare table, could have looked better with scenery.

Christoph

 

If your working with foam then you will need to put in your elevations and some land forms before the track. Because of this I will some times lay plaster cloth and some hydrocal rock castings to make sure everything stays where it is supposed to be.
Listen to the pro's on this one you need to drop all your feeders and make sure all the track is where you want it and fool proofed before you get carried away with making it look good.
my 2 cents

 

PLAN the scenery, then the track (as did ma nature)

BUILD the track (roadbed, etc) then the scenery.

Doug

 

Doug, couldn't resist asking: is the "BUILD the track . . . then the scenery" the "pa" or male approach to things? As opposed to the "ma nature" or female approach?

ROTFLMAO!