Roadbed: Cork or Foam Roll?

[bobindy]

Hello,

I'm building my first HO layout. In a week or two I will be ready to secure the roadbed. My question: is there any advantage or disadvantage to using either cork or the Woodland Scenic's roadbed roll?

The layout is located in my basement workshop along with the furnace which keeps the room very dry and rather warm. Will either of these products perform better than the other in this environment?

Is one product more difficult to work with than the other?

All opinions welcome,
Thanks,
Bob

[Anonymous]

If it were my choice, I would use the cheapest. Either will do fine. I will tell you cork is a bear to get off after you have white glued it down. On my current layout, I have used AMI and love it, its very forgiving of mistakes. If you need to move it, no big deal, just move it.

You can save money by buying one scale higher than you are currently in of AMI road bed, then splitting it in two to double the amount. I am in N scale but purchased 30 feet of HO AMI, then split it down the middle and voila 60 feet of N scale AMI. Use a pizza cutter for cutting it.

The cost is definitely higher but it is so much faster with no spiking and the ability to change your mind, which I did a lot, that I couldn't go back to cork or any other product that is permantly mounted.

[dave9999]

[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto] Excellent product. Using it and loving it. Dave
http://home.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/179/179121/pages/445631/IM000428fw.JPG

[Jetrock]

I have used the WS foam roadbed--it's nice stuff. You can use thickness based on your specific needs, too--if you model HO, use the HO roadbed for high-quality mainline roadbed, or N scale roadbed for branchlines where you just want stuff off the ground, or just lay it directly on the ground for industrial spurs and in-street trackage. One nice thing about the foam is that it's springy enough to transition from one to the other just by compressing it with track nails.

[nfmisso]

I like WS foam.

[mls1621]

The AMI Instant Roadbed is also great with ballasting, the ballast sticks to it without having to apply glue. Just apply the ballast, press it between the ties and vacuum up the excess.

[Anonymous]

I use cork because you can sand it down and bring some really nice precision to your transitions on inclines. You can also add some bank to your curves with cork.

Dave

[AntonioFP45]

Originally I was planning on laying cork roadbed on my layout but I'm going to use the foam instead.

What attracts me to it is the ease of laying it on homasote or styrofaom and the fact that it absorbs noise much more efficiently than the traditional cork.

(just listen to an H.O train running on corkroadbed which in turn is mounted on plywood - quite dramatic! ).

I'm planning on airbrushing my roadbed primer gray as it will blend in with the gray ballast.

[timthechef]

I used the foam roadbed and I love it . this is my first layout and the foam was really easy to use.

[Anonymous]

I like AMI also, but Home Depot is much closer to me. I saw somewhere in some publication that you could buy something similiar at Home Depot that was used for other purposes. Have you heard anything about this product or what it was called??

[Anonymous]

This is my second layout in 30 years and this time I used the Woodland Foam roadbed, It was much eaiser to lay than the cork. If you make a mistake, it is very easy to remove with a putty knife. One thing I have noticed is that you don't want to get too close with a soldering iron as it will melt. I use a low voltage iron to solder power wires to the rail. In the yard areas, I did not buy the WS mats as they were expensive. If you have a Wally World (Wal Mart) nearby, you can purchase squares of this foam for .39 eacb. You can also find it in craft stores such as Michales.