I am trying to construct a raised roadbed, supported by wood pillars with hand-made bents in between. My problem is I want to use a board for the roadbed to lay and secure the track to (followed later by adding gravel for effect). I've tried pine that I treated with Copper Green penetrant as a protective device, followed by a stain. After only a couple of months the board warped. We live in Southern California and have not had a lot of rain. My questions is: Is there a better wood material to use that won't warp after being treated and that will last for years as a support for my track? Thanks.
How about a decking material like Trex (I think that's one of the big names).
Well the problem you have is one of design rather than material... I have used treated pine wood outside in the rather rainy Peak District of the UK for several years. The track base has to sit on a TT shaped frame. My bed is made from 25x150mm top with two 25x50mm runners underneath it this completes the TT frame. I screw my lengths of wood together at 150mm intervals with 60mm M3 screws.
The completed structure is strong enough to take my weight (105Kg).
regards
ralph
The Home of Articulated Ugliness
I used 5/4 decking board with quite good success. You can see some pictures of my design at www.trainweb.org/beachwood. That railroad is no more. I took it up last fall and moved from Delaware to Utah. I am about to begin a new layout, all on the ground.
Paul
The above link don't work correctly, the correct link is www.trainweb.org/beachwood.
Sorry
The copper green protects from rotting and insect damage. The stain only provides color and some water protection. Warpage is most likely from not having enough supports. I have a 24 foot bridge of redwood fencing planks that has been in position for about 8 years and no warpage. I have timber bents every 10 inches (also redwood) that support the bridge. I also used copper green and stain. You might want to consider using a woodworkers trick called "grain reversal". Set your table saw for 1/2 inch and slice up the boards, then look at the ends, you will see the grain cupping in one direction. Think of the grain as the characters parenthesies ( and ). then glue the strips so that the grain faces cup to cup and back to back i.e. ()()()()()()(). The opposing grain directions will stop all but the most slight warpage.
Tom Trigg
Scott, this may be a little off the mark from exactly what you're looking for but perhaps someone else may find some useful information in my reply. I just constructed my outdoor layout last summer and was tasked with the problem of finding a way to have a long (about 75') run of straight track that slowly ascended to a pair of bridges then back down to ground level. My plan was to allow the track to pass back under of of the two bridges on its run to the loop in the back yard. I had looking into Aristo Craft's raised bed system and though I like what I saw it was well out of my price range. However, I found that for the long straight run (50 feet of which was a double track line) that using the "Tek Deck" (or similar) material that I could create the Aristo Craft style system at a fraction of the cost...except for the curves. I was able to purchase the decking material in 8' lengths (as opposed to the maximum 5' lengths offered by Aristo Craft Cutting and gluing the decking material seemed too labor intensive so I sucked it up and just purchased the curved Aristo Craft pieces that I needed.
Following their design I drilled 3/4" holes in the decking at 1' intervals with a hole saw followed by small pilot holes on each side of the 3/4" hole. The 3/4" holes would accept the 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe that would be used to support each piece. Three inch deck screws would hold the decking material to the pipe. I cut the pipe at about twice the length of the measurement from gound level to the top of the finished structure to have adequate burial depth. The one mistake that I made was to cut the PVC pipe at a 45 degree angle thinking that it would be easier to drive it into the ground. The area that I was laying track has lots of roots so I wanted the pipe to glide past the roots without trying to pound the pipe through them. A great theory which didn't pan out as I had planned. Each pipe actually went in on an angle regrdless of how straight I tried to hold it. Thle lesson here is to double bevel the end of the pipe so that the pipe will go in straight or just don't bevel the pipe at all.
Once all of this was complete I used stone to create a wall in front of the raised area and backfilled behind the wall and under the track with dirt
fm3dick - Welcome to trains.com!
Darren (BLHS & CRRM Lifetime Member)
Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM), Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
My Blog
If you can work with steel, I use 4" wide x 2" steel purlins. Also known as "c" sections.
They are galvanised & used on mainly shed walls to attach steel sheeting to.
They come in about 20 foot lenghts, so a support is only reqiured at each end, but for peace of mind I have a support in the middle. It can be cut with a small angle grinder & all offcuts can be joined together to make sidings, etc.
Curves can be harder to do but you can then use some sort of timber product.
I found that the cost of the steel compared to timber was about the same, but reqiured a large truck to deliver it to my home. I was going to rivet joins together, but ended up tack welding it where reqiured.A very qiuck way of making road bed.
It makes for a great span for a bridge, being the right width for track, with the flat side of steel placed up. Track can be held in place with a small screw.
Let it weather for a few months then it will take a coat of paint.
My layout starts inside my shed, then proceeds outside, around the garden and returns on a loop with a few sidings added here & there. Highest point of my track is 4 feet of the ground, to keep it reasonably level.
Problem I found was that when I made my track by nailing the ties to rail, some of the nails are through the ties. I thought "no problem".
It took me days to work out that when the weight of the loco came onto that piece of track which pushed down into the steel, it shorted out the track power. It was fixed by placing some thin plastic under the track. Now I run just battery power.
Just a different idea to think about.
Andrew
Sandbar & Mudcrab Railway
cabbage The completed structure is strong enough to take my weight (105Kg).
Is that a lot of stones? Hmmmm....
p.s. real nice layout, Ralph
The St. Francis Consolidated Railroad of the Colorado Rockies
Denver, Colorado
It depends on how you look at it... I am 205cm tall and my 12 year old son is 173cm tall and still to enter his main growing phase(!) I take size 15 shoes and my 23cm wide hands are big enough to change 45's by gripping the edges of the "single".
So, the answer has to be that I am just taller than most people of my generation -thus proportionally heavier. I also played Rugby and still have the "Rugby Player build".
When I made my sons cot bed I made it out of 2.5cm thick teak -as I knew what it would have to take!!!
Since you are in California, go to Home Depot and buy some redwood fence boards, dog eared and nominal 1 x 6 - 6 ft in size. Cut off the dog eared portion. Go and find a landscape supply place that sells redwood lath, 1/4 x 1 1/2. Use 1" galvanized nails to attach the lath to the edge of the redwood fence boards. This will keep it from sagging and warping/twisting. Cut splice boards about 1 ft long to connect each redwood plank portion. Use a 1 x 8 - 6 to cut out arcs for two 5 ft radius curve track sections.and attach redwood lath in the same way. You can then lay out the roadbed either directly on pavers at every joint on the ground or elevated or anything in between. I use 8 x 16 concrete building blocks set in a little sand or fine gravel to support the elevated sections. Or you could use pipe or a fancier trestle bent. When its up in position, liberally coat with Thompson's water seal (repeat every couple of years). Do not fasten the track to the roadbed unless absolutely necessary at bridge or tunnel portals. Use a screw thru a fender washer, not too tight but just enough to allow the track to move a bit. With Aristo-type rail joiners, you will normally have enough slack in the slotted portion to allow the track to expand and contract fairly evenly. Do not use ballast, as it will just wash away and collect foreign debris. Instead you can lift the track sections with a piece of bent wire hook and occasionally blow out the debris from underneath when necessary. Mine has been in place over 10 years and is still staying put. But avoid direct contact with earth - even redwood will ultimately rot away.
PRESSURE TREATED LUMBER FOR THE SUPPORTS AND FRAMING (2X6'S AND 4X4'S, SOME USE 5/4 X6'S INSTEAD OF 2X6, BUT THAT DEPENDS ON DISTANCE BETWEEN VERTICAL SUPPORTS). A FRIEND USED CEMENT BOARD FOR THE DECKING, COVERED WITH ROOFING ROLL (LOOKS LIKE STONE, THEN CAN ADD BALLAST IF DESIRED). I'M GOING TO USE AZEC TYPE MATERIAL (1/2 IN THICK 4X8 SHEET) IN PLACE OF THE CEMENT BOARD AND COVER WITH ROOFING ROLL AND ADD BALLAST. FOR MY AREA I'M USING CEMENT DECK BLOCKS (FOR THE 4X4 FOOTING) SITTING ON TOP OF A 16X16X1.5 PATIO BLOCK AND LET IT FREE FLOAT. SET UP YOUR FRAMING SO IT CAN BE ADJUSTED UP OR DOWN, ETC., IF IT SHIFTS DURING THE WINTER. SECURE TRACK EVERY FEW FEET AND LEAVE THE CORRECT GAP BETWEEN RAIL ENDS FOR EXPANSION. (OR FREE FLOAT THE TRACK IF DECKING IS WIDE ENOUGH AND YOU HAVE A LIP A LONG THE EDGE. THEN RE-ADJUST TRACK AS NECESSARY EACH SEASON)
K.R.
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