Large rolls of cork instead of foam.

[tcf511]

I'm tearing out part of a layout I started to expand the operations. In my original, I had a 10' x 30" yard area and I covered the 1/2" plywood base completely with 1/4" cork that I bought in rolls. It worked out great because I could be very flexible with where I laid my track. I had the sound deadening qualities all over. It was pretty easy to install buildings on it and drill through it for wiring.

My question is, other than cost, is there reason not to put the cork down on all of my layout? I'm not modelling a Class 1 railroad so the well-defined shoulders along the track aren't necessarily proto-type. One of the reasons that I'm considering it is that I have some prebuilt hydrocal dioramas that come come on a base and with the cork I could cut an area out and insert the diorama to be "ground level". I don't know if there are any operational issues that would make this a bad idea. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[MisterBeasley]

I had some cork sheets once, but they dried out and became very brittle. I guess that would be less of a problem if it's painted, though.

[ttrigg]

At one time I had an 8'x13' "u" shaped layout which I had covered about half (the right hand half) in cork. It was always much easier to do things on the half that was covered in cork. Even removing the ground cover to place another structure was easier than over on the part where everything was placed directly on the plywood. I would say that there are no reasons not to use the cork everywhere. In my current RR I don't think the wife would allow me to cover the fishpond with cork. (the N scale is too small for me to see what I'm doing anymore, so I've moved outside with the "Red Box Cult" (lgb).

[rrinker]

I don't see how it would hurt, but then, even secondary lines show some signs of a grade and ballast. Only the rattiest of sidings end up being more or less rails in the mud. To get some feel for this, I use HO roadbed under my main line and N scale roadbed under my sidings. It may not be accurate, but there is a visible difference between a car sitting on a siding and the train rolling by on the main.

--Randy

[tcf511]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Randy, the N scale roadbed is an interesting idea. How do you transition from one to the other?

[Anonymous]

you can use a rasp and file down the ho to n roadbed or shim the n up to the ho, figure about at least 6 to 8 inches between the two. actually most sidings drop down away from the main,probally helps cars from rolling back and fouling main

[rrinker]

Can't really file or rasp the Woodland Scenics foam - unless you want to make some black ground foam. I use pieces of cereal box cardboard to build up a ramp to the level of the HO roadbed. Haven't had any issues even with full-length 85' passenger cars with body-mounted couplers. For a test I tried ramping down from HO roadbed to flat on the tabletop with no cardboard shims - a rather abrupt transition, with a curve immediately on the diverging route of a turnout. Deliberately breaking all the rules. At full throttle, the longest rigid wheelbase steamer I had, a 4-8-2, had no problems in either direction. Neither did a couple of different GG1's. My conclusion: You have to REALLY make bad trackwork to have derailment issues. Most of my siding ramps are not very long - less than a car length, otherwise the whole siding might as well be on a grade. The one on the crossover between the main and the yard is about 4" long, the length of the track section between the two turnouts. And I've run 20 car trains through at max throttle for several passes with not a peep.
Work carefully and neatly, but you do NOT need microscopic precision to get your trains to run reliably. Having all the wheels in correct gauge and the coupler heights properly adjusted counts at least as much as how carefully the track is laid.

--Randy

[selector]

I agree with Randy, but I would agree MORE if he were to post some pictures of his layout. I know he is working on it...? [:D][:o)]

[rrinker]

Slowly. But nothing new since the last pictures I put on my site. I picked up some NCE Switch-Its and was experimenting with them, and this weekend I hit the first of the Fall train shows and got one of the new Atlas 3-packs of hoppers. And more old MRs for my collection, more old John Armstrong articles.

--Randy

[tcf511]

Thanks for the info on transitioning. I only have two tracks where that would be necessary. I'm going to get a couple of sections on N scale roadbed and play around a little.