Hello All,
Looking for Tru-Scale HO scaled milled/unmilled pieces of wooden roadbed with/without track?
I am relatively new to MMing. I am putting together a vintage railroad layout through a small town. I have a fair amount of wood roadbed but need more. eBay has some advertised but shipping cost is outrageous.
i appreciate all of your help in this matter.
Paul
If you cannot find Tru Scale, remember that Sierra Southern, later acquired by Campbell, also had a full line of unmilled wood roadbed, in a wide variety of curve radius and switch block sizes, that they sold for years and years. There was also a line of wood roadbed available briefly that had a sort of loop and socket system interlocking each piece to the next one (fitting together sort of like jigsaw puzzle shapes). For the life of me I cannot recall the manufacturer's name. And Wallace Metal sold a line of upson board roadbed that also had many choices of curve available as well as tangent pieces. All of those would still give that retro look that evidently you are after. Of course if you intend to ballast the track, then it all might as well be cork roadbed anyway. All wood would give you is more noise probably.
But BE CAREFUL. I once passed up the chance to buy a collection of used trains, including a barrel stuffed full of Tru Scale roadbed, that had all gotten wet at some point. The Tru Scale roadbed (which I did not really want anyway but this was an all or nothing package deal) was warped badly. And smelled worse.
And this would be true of other wood and upson board roadbed: unless it has been stored in a dry location, and has been stored flat and not leaning against something, it is likely to come warped. Indeed even in a fairly dry basement and stored flat, my few pieces of Wallace Metal's upson board roadbed shows some modest warping.
I am not sure I'd buy off of Ebay - I would want to inspect. Whether it is TruScale or Sierra Southern or Campbell it is getting to be pretty old stuff by now, no longer factory fresh.
Dave Nelson
I wonder if there is anything analogous to either GarGraves or Ross track in HO scale -- those would make more sense than milling the whole thing in one piece as Tru-Scale or Tetsudo did.
It occurs to me that with modern equipment you could make a continuous wood strip, either with milled-in or applied/overmolded tie-plate detail in gauge, then laser or abrasive-jet cut it into 'ties' with alternating intermittent continuations between ties as in plastic flextrack. With different kinds of applied, detailed, perhaps 3D-printed tie plates and 'fixation devices this might give the Ross 'showpiece' detail time something relatively easily amenable to glue or caulk mounting on a variety of roadbeds, or insertable into snap sections of plastic roadbed of the generally-available systems...
StukonrailLooking for Tru-Scale HO scaled milled/unmilled pieces of wooden roadbed with/without track?
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Tru-Scale wooden roadbed, which I know someone locally that uses it and swears by it, is pretty much a secondary market item only, which will pretty much limit it to ebay.
The shipping costs are high, and they seem to be heading upward.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The Tru-Scale I have has been around since 1968. Removed from a layout somewhere around 1980. Turnouts, crossovers, curves and True-Scale switch machines. Some new some used. I never thought anybody would want to use this stuff again. If I remember correctly the frogs open and close as the points move. If that makes sense to the youngsters. I need to look at them again.
PC101 The Tru-Scale I have has been around since 1968. Removed from a layout somewhere around 1980. Turnouts, crossovers, curves and True-Scale switch machines. Some new some used. I never thought anybody would want to use this stuff again. If I remember correctly the frogs open and close as the points move. If that makes sense to the youngsters. I need to look at them again.
Yes, it was called the "high speed switch" and the points, closure rails and frog guard rails were and assembly that pivoted on a screw, closing the frog gap and providing continous rail surface for the wheels.
My first layout was all TruScale, in the 60's.
Sheldon
If you have a table saw or access to one (and know how to use it safely), make your own wooden roadbed out of soft pine (in my case, I used White Pine, common in New England).Go to a good local lumber yard (not Home Depot or Lowes) and buy medium grade 1x6" pine boards (6" boards are big enough but not too big for quality). Pick through the pile 'til you find boards with little to no knots. You can spend twice as much to get premium knotless pine, but with some picking you can get good boards out of the medium pile for far less money.Cut the boards to reasonable length (3', 4', 5'...whatever's convienient for you), then rip them in thirds so that you end up with 1x2" boards. Move the rip fence 1/4" away from the blade, lay the 1x2" boards on edge and rip them (almost in half) down the length. Reset the blade so it's at 45 degrees, and cut the shoulders in.To go around curves, slot the pine roadbed on one side. I clamped my saber saw upside down in a bench vise and put the blade in backwards. Using a straight edge, I marked the roadbed about 1/16" away from the upper shoulder edge. This is the line to cut to from the other edge. I then would stack my roadbed that I wanted to curve three high and clamp them togther. Starting the saw, I would use the underside of the saw as my table, and then every 3/4" or so would feed the roadbed into the blade up to the marked line. All you should have left is sawdust.When laying it down, I used a electric brad nailer but an air brad nailer works, too (it can also be nailed down by hand, but the brad nailer works soooo much faster). I never used glue, but one does have to nail down every "finger" tab on the curves else they lift up creating an uneven surface for the track.A common pine 1"x6"x10' is about $11 these days and you can get 60' of roadbed out of it, which is about 18 cents per foot. Cork these days is over 60 cents per foot, and Tru-Scale is more than that, IIRC.
With Cascade out of the Homabed business, I am seriously considering making my own.
And wood is easier than homasote......
I have a very nice table saw, a chop saw, a router table, three routers, a bench sander, maybe it is time to buy a planner?
With a couple of custom fixtures, it could all be done pretty fast.
Or, talk to one of my friends in the custom molding business. When yuou get up to 200' or more, even custom moldings start getting very afordable.
Paul3Go to a good local lumber yard (not Home Depot or Lowes) and buy medium grade 1x6" pine boards
If I was going to make my own, I'd just rip the pieces from 2x4's. They are cheaper and fewer cuts required. Don't worry about knots, just cut them out of the finished pieces with your chop saw.
The kerfs you need to allow for flexing can be cut on the table saw before ripping or after ripping if you clamp several pieces together.
One nice benefit to using soft pine as roadbed you may not have considered is that it's incredibly quiet.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
ATLANTIC CENTRALI have a very nice table saw, a chop saw, a router table, three routers, a bench sander, maybe it is time to buy a planner?
The roadbed you speak of was garbage according to the original owner, of course he may have been comparing it to later track that was available. I spoke to him a long time ago, not often someone makes that kind of statement about their own product no long how long it has been out of production.
rrebell The roadbed you speak of was garbage according to the original owner, of course he may have been comparing it to later track that was available. I spoke to him a long time ago, not often someone makes that kind of statement about their own product no long how long it has been out of production.
Original owner? That product goes back pretty far?
I will ask again, and maybe he did not elaborate, but garbage in what way?
Have you ever used it? It worked well and looked good for its time as commercial track went.
"garbage" is a meanless negitive adjective without some context.
For my purposes foam is "garbage" for building a layout, but others disagree.
The local guy here that is an devoted Tru-Scale roadbed user only used the smooth surface roadbed product. He does not use the product with ties milled into it already.
There really are a lot of advantages to it, the best being the radius is rigid and pre-made into the curved sections. These curved sections are also available (were available) in many different and broader curve radius. They can be cut to fit in sections, then the flex track can be laid right on top with a perfect radius following the center line with no measuring needed.
SeeYou190They can be cut to fit in sections, then the flex track can be laid right on top with a perfect radius following the center line with no measuring needed.
OvermodI'd still use a Ribbonrail or Tracksetta gauge if the flextrack has any particular stiffness or contains soldered joints
Yes, there are many ways to skin a cat. I was just relaying how one local modeler has found this product meets his needs and puts it to good use.
I was not trying to change anyone's building methods.
SeeYou190 The local guy here that is an devoted Tru-Scale roadbed user only used the smooth surface roadbed product. He does not use the product with ties milled into it already. There really are a lot of advantages to it, the best being the radius is rigid and pre-made into the curved sections. These curved sections are also available (were available) in many different and broader curve radius. They can be cut to fit in sections, then the flex track can be laid right on top with a perfect radius following the center line with no measuring needed. -Kevin
I worked in the hobby shop when it was still a popular product, all versions.
Yes, it came in a wide selection of curves and turnout/crossing configurations.
The roadbed with the ties could be bought as a kit or ready to install.
Same with the turnouts.
The product dates back to the 40's, a quick search of the archives found ads for the roadbed in 1948.
The layout my father built for me in the 60's was all TruScale, it worked very well. The turnouts were tough, derailment free, and looked pretty good.
For many years he assembled and disassembled it every holiday season. He attached it to the platform with flat head wood screws counter sunk between the rails. I still have some. The test track on my workbench is TruScale.
I made all my supports last year using plywood and a jig saw. I started with my old jig saw, that was bought when dinosaurs roamed on the earth, and it was very tedious. It was a great excuse to buy a new and more powerful one. What a difference that made. Plywood is a lot more stable than regular wood, in my opinion... Anyway, I soldered 3 pieces of sectional track together as a template to get exactly the curves I wanted. It was easy and fun. I nailed cork roadbed on top of that. It can be glued, but I don't have that patience. The cork absorbs a lot of the unwanted noise an HO train will do when crawling around the layout.
Simon
20190127_171339 on Flickr
ATLANTIC CENTRAL With Cascade out of the Homabed business, I am seriously considering making my own. And wood is easier than homasote...... I have a very nice table saw, a chop saw, a router table, three routers, a bench sander, maybe it is time to buy a planner? With a couple of custom fixtures, it could all be done pretty fast. Or, talk to one of my friends in the custom molding business. When yuou get up to 200' or more, even custom moldings start getting very afordable. Sheldon
I will probably do the same; as in make my own homasote-based roadbed.
tin can ATLANTIC CENTRAL With Cascade out of the Homabed business, I am seriously considering making my own. And wood is easier than homasote...... I have a very nice table saw, a chop saw, a router table, three routers, a bench sander, maybe it is time to buy a planner? With a couple of custom fixtures, it could all be done pretty fast. Or, talk to one of my friends in the custom molding business. When yuou get up to 200' or more, even custom moldings start getting very afordable. Sheldon I will probably do the same; as in make my own homasote-based roadbed.
I was thinking about making my own homasote roadbed, but more and more I am leaning toward wood.
It will be less messy, cost the same, and the actual milling may be easier.
carl425,I would not recommend 2x4's. Sure, they are cheaper, but when one is ripping 1/4" roadbed without a planer, you want straight wood up against the fence. 2x4's are not the straightest boards to choose from, usually.Knots are a problem. A board with knots will not bend as well or as smoothly as one with few if any knots. Not just at the location of the knot, either, but near it, too. Chopping out all the sections of roadbed with knots out of a 2x4 would probably result in many small pieces of wood, and that makes them harder to curve gently. Using 1x6's, I was able to consistently get 5 foot pieces of roadbed that I could curve without knots.Kerf cuts for curving can certainly be done with the table saw, but I wanted as small a kerf as possible. I wanted to prevent having to skim coat the roadbed with some kind of filler like drywall mud so I could use the minimum amount of ballast needed (instead of using ballast to fill in the cuts). The saber saw blade cuts work down to about a 30" radius. Anything sharper than that requires a wider cut.Sheldon,I have a piece of my club's old layout from 1945-1953, and the track is laid down on Tru-scale roadbed. So yeah, they were around a long time ago, indeed.I never liked the pre-milled ties. I always thought they looked rough. The flat roadbed is fine stuff and great for handlaying track.Wood is great for roadbed; you don't have to worry about messing up your tools. My entire layout used it, and so does my club's layout. Here's pic of my club from 4 years ago; you can see the wood roadbed in the foreground (and all the track is handlaid in this area):And yes, that's me with the beard.
I agree the ties plates on the Ready Track made it look a little bulky.
I still have 50'-60' of plain TruScale roadbed, and yes it is great fore hand layed or flex track.
I have been leaning toward wood ever since I heard Cascade closed up shop.
I have the tools, and I have some inside sources for better wood than the box stores sell.
I think it is a no brainer at this point.
ATLANTIC CENTRALI have the tools, and I have some inside sources for better wood than the box stores sell. I think it is a no brainer at this point.
sandjam ATLANTIC CENTRAL I have the tools, and I have some inside sources for better wood than the box stores sell. I think it is a no brainer at this point. Wow! I’d love to see photos of you doing this. Please post of them here. If possible, could you provide “inside sources” web sites? or addys? Looks like there is still an interest in wood roadbed.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I have the tools, and I have some inside sources for better wood than the box stores sell. I think it is a no brainer at this point.
Sure, I already have thread about my upcoming layout build, but it will be while yet. I have several months of other projects I need to complete first.