Home
»
Garden Railways
»
Forums
»
Garden Railroading
»
Use of cementboard or Hardibacker for roadbed??

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Yes I have used cement board for a base.  I live in New Zealand, so I am making a major assumption that the cement board we get here is similar to what you call cement board. The thickness I have used is about 6mm which was determined because it was free - well remains left by the builder who did work on our house.  (so I guess we did actually pay for it anyway). :-) That thickness is not strong enough to support track on its own, so I have wood under it.  I started out doing 1 layer of wood (old fence posts - because they were free too), with 2 layers of cement board on top.  I found that 2 layers was overkill, and 1 was enough, so later stuff was done with just one layer.  The reason I used cemenet board was it made a good wide strip to support the track and it provided some protection to stop the wood soaking up water from rain going through the ballast. I painted the cement board with grey paving paint before laying track, so if the ballast gets thin you don't see white under the track. Some of it has been sitting out in the sun for a two years now, as I am only just getting around to putting down ballast, and it is going brittle and can snap easy if not supported underneath. However once holding the pballast up I don't forsee any problems. You might be able to see some photos of it in the Whats New page on my website: <A href="http://www.trainweb.org/nzgr">www.trainweb.org/nzgr</A> Regards, Glen Anthony Rocky Creek Railway, New Zealand
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag