Cork track Bed?

[Red Horse]

I recently came across a great buy on enough cork bed to do my whole layout and I was wondering what the advantage to using cork under the tracks???

And also how far on each side of the track should the cork bed stick out???

Thanks!

Jess.

[Rotorranch]

Jess...compared to laying the track right on the benchwork, the cork will insulate the noise from the train from the bench. It also raises the track somewhat above the surrounding terrain, just as the real railroads do.

My HO scale cork roadbed extends about 1/4 inch beyond the ties on each side.

Rotor

[cowman]

Roadbed makes your track look more prototypical keeping your track above the surrounding area.  It also has some sound deadening capabilities.

Most cork roadbed that I have seen comes with a 45 degree slice down the middle.  Seperate the two pieces, then lay them with the straight sides together along the centerline of your track.  I think most folks consider this the correct width for normal roadbed.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Have fun,

[jackn2mpu]

Roadbed makes your track look more prototypical keeping your track above the surrounding area.  It also has some sound deadening capabilities.

Most cork roadbed that I have seen comes with a 45 degree slice down the middle.  Seperate the two pieces, then lay them with the straight sides together along the centerline of your track.  I think most folks consider this the correct width for normal roadbed.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Have fun,

True, but if it's the Midwest Products cork, when the 2 pieces are separated, they are NOT the same width, and one has a very pronounced ridge at the top of the 45 degree angle where it slopes down from horizontal. I spent a lot of time with a sanding block taking down that ridge when laying cork on my HO layout. What a pain, and the mess it generates! Keep a vacuum handy.

[Red Horse]

Yikes, I didn't think of how I'm going too get the edges tapered, this is thin cork sheets like one would find on a note board and it wasn't ment for model rail roading so it looks like I'll have to use the track balast to hide the squared edges....geesh, no wonder why some people don't use other materials for certain things, the stuff may have been $1.00 for a 12"x12" sheet but it will not be saving me any time after I have too work the track ballest for the tapered edges.

Thanks everyone!

Happy Rails, Jess.

[dknelson]

The Union Pacific's website has this drawing (not to scale) that might be helpful for ideas as to what slightly elevated roadbed should look like.  Model train track centers need to be wider than scale due to our sharp curves and fat fingers!

 

 

Dave Nelson

[dante]

Yikes, I didn't think of how I'm going too get the edges tapered, this is thin cork sheets like one would find on a note board and it wasn't ment for model rail roading so it looks like I'll have to use the track balast to hide the squared edges....geesh, no wonder why some people don't use other materials for certain things, the stuff may have been $1.00 for a 12"x12" sheet but it will not be saving me any time after I have too work the track ballest for the tapered edges.

Thanks everyone!

Happy Rails, Jess.

 

If I remember correctly, Pelle Soeborg, who has written many articles for MRR, cuts his roadbed from sheet cork with plumb vertical edges, not sloped.  He then pours the rock ballast, allowing it to assume a natural angle of repose.  His trackage looks great in his photos.  See March & April, 2005 issues.

[loathar]

Yikes, I didn't think of how I'm going too get the edges tapered, this is thin cork sheets like one would find on a note board and it wasn't ment for model rail roading so it looks like I'll have to use the track balast to hide the squared edges....geesh, no wonder why some people don't use other materials for certain things, the stuff may have been $1.00 for a 12"x12" sheet but it will not be saving me any time after I have too work the track ballest for the tapered edges.

Thanks everyone!

Happy Rails, Jess.

Jesse-My commercial cork bed is 2" wide and about 3/16" thick. When doing your curves, cut it into 1" wide strips and lay 2 side by side. It's easier to bend 1" around the curves than 2".
It sands REAL easy. Just use some 100 grit sand paper to make your beveled shoulders.

[R. T. POTEET]

Horse, first rattle out of the box let me say that I'm glad you're still with us.

Some years back I settled on a sandwich of 3/8ths inch ply for subroadbed, 1/2 inch Homasote® atop that, and cork atop that. Some might call this overkill. I did it this way because that's the way the book said to do it; this could be a prime example of "the blind leading the blind". I have assumed that cork has sound-deadening qualities because I have been told that cork has sound-deadening qualities. I'm not sure I could prove or disprove it! For me cork roadbed serves the prime purpose of giving formation to my roadbed.

After I've tacked my cork down to my Homasote® I just align my track using the split in the cork for a guide and ballast.

I might note here that I once tried to form my Homasote® using a saber saw but it created such a mess that I abandoned it for all time.

[markpierce]

..Most cork roadbed that I have seen comes with a 45 degree slice down the middle.  Seperate the two pieces, then lay them with the straight sides together along the centerline of your track.  ...

Too bad for us modelers that the side slope of prototype roadbed is less than the 45 degrees offered by virtually all roadbed manufacturers.  I believe Homabed has a version of their roadbed with something like a 30-degree slope.

Mark

[HEdward]

Didn't Pelle say that he prefers to leave the cork square on the edges and let the ballast fill in naturally?

[loathar]

 I have assumed that cork has sound-deadening qualities because I have been told that cork has sound-deadening qualities. I'm not sure I could prove or disprove it!

I did one layout years ago with it. (no problems) I did another 4x8 some years later without cork roadbed and it was VERY loud! Laid the track right on the plywood and ballasted. I swore I'd never build without it again. 

[dante]

Didn't Pelle say that he prefers to leave the cork square on the edges and let the ballast fill in naturally?

 

Yes - that's what I said earlier (using other words).  :-) 

[HEdward]

Didn't Pelle say that he prefers to leave the cork square on the edges and let the ballast fill in naturally?

 

Yes - that's what I said earlier (using other words).  :-) 

oopsI hadn't read that far down.  Watching the twins wrestle with a dozen balloons, but that's no excuse for replying without reading the entire thread first. 

[Medina1128]

Once I glue my roadbed down with latex caulk, I sand the top and edge with a power sander. It makes quick work of making sure the top is perfectly flat, and knocks that hard line off the edges. When sanding, I make sure there is NO vertical misalignment from one section to the next.

 

[Grampys Trains]

Hello Jess: If you want a slope (30 or 45 deg.) or something close, you could just cut a slope with a sharp utility knife.  I made some cork switch pads out of the same cork you have.

[Midnight Railroader]

If I remember correctly, Pelle Soeborg, who has written many articles for MRR, cuts his roadbed from sheet cork with plumb vertical edges, not sloped.  He then pours the rock ballast, allowing it to assume a natural angle of repose.  His trackage looks great in his photos.  See March & April, 2005 issues.

This is nothing particularly new. many of us have been using cork roadbed this way for years; even an MR article published in the 80s suggested it.

[Red Horse]

Well I got a chance to try my hand at the cork road bed thing and after attempting to slice a 45* degree edge on a strip and slicing myfinger real good instead I've decided to NOT put the edge on them and try at tappering the edges with the track ballast, geesh I got a nasty gash!!!

Thank God I'm an Emt or I would have been calling one....Lol!!!

My wife asked what had happened when she saw me rushing towards the bathroom holding a bloody hand with the other one, "Oh just playing with my trains Hon" was my dumb reply, "Oh" she remarked, "Maybe you should take up a safer hobby like hunting or parachutting", haw, haw, haw, very funny!!!

I have finished all my layout moduals and I'm just waiting to build the table that will hold them all, the finshed layout is roughly 8'X8' and will be free standing so that I can walk all the way around it in case of derailments and I was sure not to lay any tracks too far into the middle so this way all tracks can be reached from the edges of the table.

I still have a few details to complete, I want to devise a way that I can have a few helicopters over the land scape but I'm not sure if I'm going to suspend them from the ceiling on monofiliment or have then supported from the base upwards from a fine wire.

While I'm writting about suspending things from the ceiling I was thinking about stars at night, kind of like the scene from the movie "Beetle Juice", you know the train layout in the movie that had the micro lights hanging from the ceiling, has anyone here done this before and is it possible to pull this off with out making the layout look like giant spiders are slinging webs over it.

I would guess that by having all the fine power light wires painted the same color as the ceiling that it might not look so bad, my other idea was to have a false ceiling built with the tiny lights hidden behind a light black screen so that they are only seen when the lights are turned on???

Any advice on the sucsesses and failures of past attempts at this would be very interesting too me.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Jess Red Horse, Modeling the Santa Fe and Free Lancing it all the way!!!

[Grampys Trains]

Hello Jess: Sorry to hear about your mishap. If you try cutting anything again, I heard that someone makes Kevlar gloves.

[cudaken]

 Hey Jessie, it is Cuda Ken again. As far making a taper edge for the cork, I use a 8" sanding block with 36 grit sand paper. Makes a mess but you will not cut your finger off! Well, you would really have to work at it.

 I know about tight bugets, my main section of the bench is scrape lumber from pallets I, hum, found a home for. Plywood came from home sites that where being bulit, 85% of the time I asked for the scrap.

 On the road bed, it is cheap! I get my from K-10 Model Trains and I get a discount. My cost is around 70 to 80 cents for a 3 foot long section. Tell you what I will do, contact me by PM and send me your number and we can work something out. I will all so ship at my cost just because I like you. It will be snail mail,(cheap as I can get) but shipping is free. OK, if over $8.00 we will talk about it. For around $8.00 (for cork not shipping) you will get around 30 feet of cork bed. Plus I have some used cork bed I will ship with it. As a added bounes (brew is kicking in) tell me what sizes turns outs you run and I will make you a tinplate for that sizes.

 In a really good mood, trains are running well, pretty good check coming plus I like to help.

           Cuda Ken your friend.

[Red Horse]

Thanks Ken I PMed you!

************************************************************************

And That glove sounds like a good investment for me!!!

[jackn2mpu]

Let's see - cutting fingers whilst modeling? Been there, done that, now I keep a box of different size bandaids handy along with a bottle of peroxide and cotton balls for cleaning cuts and wounds up. Then I don't have to bother my wife to help.

Something to try instead of a knife to work with cork is a Stanley surform tool. They are a type of surface planer with w working surface like those old kitchen graters. Their made in different sizes from small pocket size up to humongous ones. Those might work well with cork. 

[dknelson]

Well I got a chance to try my hand at the cork road bed thing and after attempting to slice a 45* degree edge on a strip and slicing myfinger real good instead I've decided to NOT put the edge on them and try at tappering the edges with the track ballast, geesh I got a nasty gash!!!

Thank God I'm an Emt or I would have been calling one....Lol!!!

Geez, a close call.  Remember ... SAFETY FIRST:

 

Dave Nelson

[loathar]

Geez, a close call.  Remember ... SAFETY FIRST:

 

Dave Nelson

AHHH!!! Give that man a Darwin award!

[cudaken]

 Got to thin out the heard somehow!