I've used Midwest Products cork roadbed before, fastening to either plywood or homosote. I have seen Track Bed demonstration displays at hobby stores but have never used it. I am building a new layout and this time the road bed will be put down on foam board. The on-line hobby shop I frequent has both products. Their bulk pack price is similar, 31 cents/ft for Track Bed and 33 cents/ft for cork. I would like to hear from anyone who has had experience with Track Bed, particularly regarding installation, ballasting and durability.
Thanks, Kerry
Cork, the other went on e-bay. You cannot transition with the WS stuff or sand it and it is too soft so if you ballast and press down for some reason for a repair or other, the ballast will crack away.
I have had the opposite experience using WS foam roadbed. My track has been down for at least 9 years and have experienced no cracking or problems with the ballast.
As for transitioning from the roadbed to the layout there is no need to sand the roadbed or use shims. The vertical strength of the track eliminates any need for support. The track is simply laid from the roadbed to the layout top and when secured in proper position the gap is filled with ballast. The two stones under the outside rail were not for support but to super elevate the outside rail.
Below is a short video showing the results.
http://vid172.photobucket.com/albums/w15/superbe/Transition/1-3-2012/20120103171222.mp4
Try it and you will like it
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
Bob, how did you fasten the WS foam roadbed to your layout?
Kerry
Two layouts ago I used WS foam, as I had 30" and greater radius curves. I used the rolls and ran as long a continuous section as possible. With the wide curves it was easy to form even though it's not split down the middle like cork. I only used a few of the strips for fill ins and to cut in turnouts. There IS a slit you can use as a guide to split it down the middle when required. I used the big sheats for my yard, rather than run an individual strip for each track.
I used cork on my last layout, much sharper curves and smaller turnouts. Both were on an extruded foam base. I don't think there's a whole loot of difference, really. ANd you CAN sand down the WS foam, you just can't use a rough rasp tool like a Surform. There's no real need to sand as a matte of course like with cork, it's much more uniform plus again the fewer the joints, the fewer potential issues.
I attached both the WS foam and cork with latex caulk. And I attached the track on top of that with the same caulk. Sure beats the old hammering on nails, plus nails don't exactly hold in foam. If you plan you steps and test fit the track pieces, you can get a lot of track down in each work session. Until I had all the roadbed down, I was usually one step ahead - section of roadbed down and set up over night, ready for track, so the first step of the work session was to lay the next section of roadbed. Then go back and put the track on the previous night's roadbed. By the time that was done, the new section of roadbed is usually set up enough that you can take out the temporary pins and it will stay in place, so as long as I had time available, I'd just keep repeating the process.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Personally I don't think I would like soft spongy material like the WS foam trackbed, and I am used to cork - and it's very sandable which I like. You can easily nail or glue cork - I prefer to nail it - only requires one Atlas track nail about every 3 inches on the straight and every 2 on the curve. I put the nail head in so it's just below the surface so I can sand it - it's easy to pull them out with a needle nose if I need.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Kerry....
I used a thin skim of water souluble latex caulk for both the roadbed and the track.
I too prefer the solidity of the cork roadbed. But I have used the Woodland Scenics foam in special situations where I wanted just a bit of elevation over the plywood table top.
I bought it in their "Super Sheets" and be advised, from a transition standpoint if nothing else, that they offer it in two thicknesses. What they call HO ST1477 is 5 mm thick. What they call N ST1478 is 3 mm thick. This opens up some possibilities. I use WS's own Foam Tack Glue but Aleene's would certainly work as well.
One other thing about the WS foam. At my "tracklaying for beginners" clinic I show, and pass around, how "trainset" type track from LikeLike (Power-Loc) and Bachmann (E-Z Track) can be mated to sectional track or flex track on cork roadbed. The N scale 3mm version of the WS form raises cork roadbed to exactly the right height to match the integral track from those firms (perhaps also to Kato and Atlas integral track although I lack examples to test out). The special latch at the end of the Bachmann and LifeLike track has to be cut away but otherwise it is a clean match. (The "ballast" profile is fairly easily blended assuming you ballast the flex or sectional track.) This is useful for beginners who want to take the next step in their layouts without tossing their investment in the integral track.
Dave Nelson
I'm just getting started, with the WS foam track bed, but so far I like it a lot. I am splitting it and putting down 22 and 18 inch curves no problem; the latex caulk holds very well to the pink extruded foam base.
For a transition down to the base, I cut a wood shim off at the appropriate thickness, and further cut it into segments and spread them out over 8 inches or so. I may fill in the gaps underneath the track with something so I don't use so much ballast.
Donn
I too feel that the WS foam was too spongy. ( personal opinion )
I prefer cork mainly because that is what I have experiance with using.
I'm thinking this is a Ford / Chevy type of topic. ( I prefer Chevy !!! lol )
Craig