Roadbed and Ballast Profiles

[Anonymous]

I have a question on roadbed. On mainline, cork roadbed works great, but I am planning a bookshelf industrial railroad that consists mainly of a network of sidings. Would a transition era prototype railroad have such high profile roadbed in low speed industrial area?

Should I lay the track right on my foam board base for sidings?

Any help on this one would be appreciated.

Mike

[Anonymous]

I have a question on roadbed. On mainline, cork roadbed works great, but I am planning a bookshelf industrial railroad that consists mainly of a network of sidings. Would a transition era prototype railroad have such high profile roadbed in low speed industrial area?

Should I lay the track right on my foam board base for sidings?

Any help on this one would be appreciated.

Mike

[Anonymous]

You can find them both ways in real life but the majority was and still are pretty flat with maybe the mains being a little higher and of heavier track. The railroad tend to do things cheap as possible. They even use less ties in yards and leave them in the ground longer. Also, lots of yards are tranversed with truck traffic (team yards) and the ties are completely burried in gravel/dirt mixture and the cars "flange" out the dirt and rocks. All you see in these yard are the tops of the track with a 2" wide furrow on the inside edges.

[Anonymous]

You can find them both ways in real life but the majority was and still are pretty flat with maybe the mains being a little higher and of heavier track. The railroad tend to do things cheap as possible. They even use less ties in yards and leave them in the ground longer. Also, lots of yards are tranversed with truck traffic (team yards) and the ties are completely burried in gravel/dirt mixture and the cars "flange" out the dirt and rocks. All you see in these yard are the tops of the track with a 2" wide furrow on the inside edges.

[dknelson]

My experience is that industrial areas do not have much built up roadbed. The low speeds mean it is not so crucial to have great drainage. You might explore the sheet cork that is available (cannot recall if it is IBL or Midwest). Woodland Scenics also sells their foam in sheets that you can easily cut to fit with scissors.
Dave Nelson

[dknelson]

My experience is that industrial areas do not have much built up roadbed. The low speeds mean it is not so crucial to have great drainage. You might explore the sheet cork that is available (cannot recall if it is IBL or Midwest). Woodland Scenics also sells their foam in sheets that you can easily cut to fit with scissors.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your input. This should get me on my way to laying track.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your input. This should get me on my way to laying track.

[HuskyHoops]

My understanding is that sidings are typically lower than the mainline. I don't know how prototypically correct this would be, but if you're modeling HO scale, you may consider using N scale roadbed for your track to model the lower elevation of the siding.

[HuskyHoops]

My understanding is that sidings are typically lower than the mainline. I don't know how prototypically correct this would be, but if you're modeling HO scale, you may consider using N scale roadbed for your track to model the lower elevation of the siding.

[Anonymous]

Two of my friends have layouts that are very good and in some areas, they have no road bed at all. Still looks good.

[Anonymous]

Two of my friends have layouts that are very good and in some areas, they have no road bed at all. Still looks good.

[Anonymous]

Have never used roadbed in yards or sidings just ballast...and no problems

[Anonymous]

Have never used roadbed in yards or sidings just ballast...and no problems