qualityman wrote:. . . . . . . . . . How do I come down from the top of the roadbed to the homosote surface in a smooth easy gradient? . . . . . . . . . .
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
when I make a ramp down for an industrial track I fix the rail at each end of the transition area and let it make its own level.
I then fill in under the track with scraps of card or similar and then fill up any other gaps with ballast.
its the easiest method I have tried.
trevor
If you are a homasote person (some are, some are not), you might want to investigate using Homabed for your roadbed instead of cork. You can get Homabed through the California Roadbed Company (http://www.calroadbed.com/).
Homabed is a little more expensive but it has more options than you will find in cork. I especially like the the 60 degree bevel because it looks like a more natural slope for the ballast. The have 1/4" and 1/8" heights (in HO) for main line and branch lines/sidings and shims for transitioning from 1/4" to zero. They also have turnout pads if you want them pre-fit.
This is not a commercial but I have been using Homabed for quite a while and I like it much better than cork.
Cal Roadbed is a small mostly made to order company so orders can take a while but they are easy to work with and sometimes it is just nice to spend your money with the "locals" instead of the corporations.
Good luck,-John
You can buy cedar shakes and use them for shims or buy a chunk of balsa and sand it to a taper.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
The real RR's use what they call "Compromise Joints." These will allow one size rail to join with another size rail.
I think Micro Engineering makes these, but they are easy to make yourself.
I use to join Code-55 rail to Code-70 rail by taking a Code-70 rail joiner and putting it on the Code-70 rail and then taking a pair of pliers, smashing the other end of the joiner. This would allow the smaller rail to fit right up to the larger rail. You are only concerned about the top of the rails and now I would solder everything together. When finished you have a compromise joint, and a very secure one at that.
pc
Decide on the rails to be used in either location. No change, all the same code? Then simply sand down a suitable length of transition roadbed and make it join something thinner than the cork you use on the main. You can buy sheets of cork at varying thicknesses. Take a suitable length of the heavier material, say homasote, and sand it so that it is thinnest near where it meets the thinner surface material for your yard or whatever.
If your intend to go to a lighter rail in the lower area, then you can buy transition tracks, I believe from Atlas (not positive about who makes them, but they exist...others will help you there). You would still want a slightly thinner material for that code 70 to make the height disparity in the "lower" area substantial enough to be perceived.
I have a question.
I am building a new layout using code 83 Atlas track. I want to size down to code 70 when I come off the mainline into the sidings.
All of the tables are covered with homosote. I plan on laying the mainline on cork roadbed. How do I come down from the top of the roadbed to the homosote surface in a smooth easy gradient?