Roadbed height

[tangerine-jack]

Don't beat your head over the details of grade changes into industrial areas/ yards etc.  There are thousands of ways the prototype does it, some are on elevated beds, some are not.  some yards have clear drainage slopes and elevated tracks, some do not.  Some transiton tracks from mains to sidings or yards are carefuly executed, some are not.   If you are trying to capture a feel of your favorite prototype, then duplicate what they do.

I build my yard and industrial areas from a large piece of foam or homosote, then cut away what I don't need from that.   That way I don't have to worry about verticle transitions, it's all one grade and it fools the eye very nicely into believing the industries are at "ground level" and the main lines are on elevated road beds.

[WP&P]

 Another possible tapered support is: Air!  Just let the track float from one elevation to the next, at least until you ballast it, that is.  Fill in with ballast below the ties and when you glue it all, as long as it's all thoroughly saturated, the track will be well supported.  Of course, this will use up a lot of ballast, which if you want to avoid using so much, you can just fit in some slivers of scrap cardstock or whatnot, glued to the subroadbed, which will just get buried by the ballast.  Anywhere you need to nail down track, of course, you need a shim, but you could cut little 2 inch sections from wood shims as mentioned above - this would be a way to handle a curve, for instance, since you can't bend the shim with the track.

Personally, I use a finishing layer of plaster over everything, and so I'd be inclined to keep the cork under my track, and just build the finish layer of plaster up high enough to come flush with the industrial track.  But that means that any apparent height difference between mainline and spur must be built into the plywood subroadbed ahead of time.

[larak]

scalerious

OR if I use 1 layer of HO cork roadbed on the main then transition to the N roadbed will it be enough of a transition?

 So I wanted to see what everyone else does.

 

I use HO foam roadbed in one layer for the mains, N foam roadbed for some sidings and spurs and have one industrial area directly on the substrate. The elevation differences are quite noticeable when adjacent. This is enhanced by using various rail codes (heights) too.

Karl

[tomikawaTT]

Best way is to have your entire turnout at mainline level, then taper down gently to a lower level.  Possible ramp materials include (but are not limited to) tapered door shims (wood - get at a lumber emporium,) shingles (ditto,) or your favorite roadbed material tapered with a sur-form tool (messy!)

Any place that requires a worker on the ground to operate switchstands or cut levers would have the walking area built up with ballast to tie-top level.  The track alongside the loading door or dock could easily have mud ballast up to (and sometimes over) tie-top level.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[scalerious]

I've searched through the forums and came up with some good discussions on this topic, but I just wanted to take a poll, how many of you put your industrial tracks directly on the plywood or foam subgrade?

 I am modeling an industrial area in HO that leads into a more rural zone. After reading the newest MR on Realistic Reliable Track I thought that I would double up the cork roadbed on my mainline. I like the look of a slightly higher mainline and it fits with my prototype.

 The real question I have is, if I go to N scale cork for the sidings then directly onto the subgrade (I'm using foam) for the tracks that service the industry I may drive myself crazy with all of the elevation changes.

OR if I use 1 layer of HO cork roadbed on the main then transition to the N roadbed will it be enough of a transition?

 So I wanted to see what everyone else does.

As a note, none of my indistrial track will be "Street tracks" or "trolly tracks", just servicing warehouses and other industry.

 Thanks for the input.