One thing I forgot to mention is that ballast is usually concidered too coarse for a dirt road. The material on a dirt road is very fine. If you can get real dirt, dry it, run a magnet over it to get rid of any metal particles that may be in it, then sift it. Use several sizes of screen to sift, then you will have several sizes of material to work with. For the finest use a tea strainer or piece of ladies nylon stocking, use that to sprinkle on the wet paint that is your dirt road. Use your basic earth tone paint that you have used on the layout for the road.
Good luck,
An alternative for an asphalt crossing is a technique the late Linn Westcott demonstrated on a PBS series about 30 years ago. Simply pave the road right over the rails leaving the paving material flush with the rail tops. Before the paving material has hardened, use a freight car truck, preferably a cheap old one, and run it back and forth on the rails to cut flangeways in the soft paving material. Scrape the tops of the rails clean before the paving material has completely hardened. After it has set up completely, sand it smooth and use a hobby knife to round off the edges of the flangeways.
Back again.
For an asphalt road do the same as I suggested for concete, just don't scribe in block lines and use a darker color. A strip of styrene inside each rail wide enough for your flanges to go through easily and your WS road material should work fine, After the road is cured, pull out the styrene and touch up the flangeway if needed. Paint to the desired amount of wear. If you want to use the pre-made road material, you can use the same base or just put some strips of styrene, wood, cardstock or foamboard between the rails, leaving the flangeway, then adhere the road material to it. Outside the rails just bring it right up to the track and cut with a sharp hobby knife. Asphalt comes virtually right up to the outside of the rail in most cases. Concrete often had a gap for a plank or two to keep the concete from being damaged by the vibration of the train passing.
Well my era is current modern D&RGW in Denver, CO 1998-Present
How would I make a grade crossing for an asphalt road?
At my LHS, I saw they had those pre-made roads, I might get those. But don't know how intersect that with the track.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Hi!
All the previous suggestions were right on!
Your crossing material selection should be based on two things - your timeframe, and the locale (city, country, etc.)
As I model in the '50s, and its a country / edge of town setting, most of my road crossings will be wood planking. However, crossings for dirt roads and the like will be "dirt". Spending summers in the southern Illinois countryside across from the IC racetrack, I recall dirt road crossings that were like "concrete". Its amazing how packed and secure those could be. Mark's picture is of something that while rare today, was so common "back then".
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
A simpler crossing for a dirt or gravel road would be just two rails inside the running rails to keep the dirt/gravel away from the wheel flanges. This would be particularly appropriate for old time or lesser-used roads.
(Above is one of the Hook clan riding across the main track of SP's San Ramon Branch at Hookston [now in Pleasant Hill, CA] with winery in the left background. The winery was on a long double-ended spur spaced some distance from but parallel to the main. To the right of the main is another double-ended spur along which an open-platform depot and at least one other industry sat.)
Thanks, that was exactly what I was looking for.
Welcome to the forums.
Not sure what era you are modeling, but cement roads of the '50;s often had heavy planking on top of the ties, between the rails. If I remember correctly, the one we used to cross the most had a plank or two outside the rail and the cement came up to it.
Dirt road crossings were often planked as above or low use farm crossings had some dirt between the rails and dirt up close to the outside of the rail. There could have been a single heavy plank on the inside of each rail to create a flangeway.
For a little more modern crossings I have seen a video show placing a strip of styrene, wide enough for your flanges, inside each rail and the material that you are using for your road spread between them strips. After your road material sets up, pull the strips out and smooth as necessary.
Hope this helps.
I'm trying to do a combination of cement road from the woodland road kit and a dirt road using ballast. My question is how can I make either road cross over the tracks and still look realistic?