Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

making a road crossing over tracks

40605 views
18 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2011
  • From: Horsham, Pennsylvania
  • 412 posts
making a road crossing over tracks
Posted by woodman on Sunday, October 12, 2014 9:47 PM

I am in the process of adding a few road crossings over the tracks, I am using Atlas 100 code in HO scale. Do you remove the ties in that section of the track that the road is going over, I am going to use strips of styrene in between the rails. My concern is about couplers hitting the filler strip between the rails. How do most of you do this and what thickness styrene should I be using?

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • 384 posts
Posted by Redore on Sunday, October 12, 2014 10:05 PM

Leave the ties on.  Use plastic or wood that is thinner than the rails to keep coupler pins from hitting it.  Leave flangeways adjacent to the inside of the rails.  Test the crossing before everything is set up.

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Redmond, Wa.
  • 171 posts
Posted by glutrain on Monday, October 13, 2014 12:02 AM

Leave the ties in place as they will support whatever material that you choose to use to make your crossings.My track is also code 100, and what I learned was a piece of the paperboard that they use to make milk cartons out of, worked really well to create the needed room for the wheel flanges. Ultimately I used a small amount of plaster to fill in the roadway between the rails. I simply sanded it just low enough that most of my coupler trip pins cleared it easily. The rest of the trip pins got adjusted to match the the ones that cleared the crossings.

Don H.

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Monday, October 13, 2014 12:07 AM

My track is Atlas Code83, and I made crossings using Evergreen .080"x.100" strip styrene.  Atlas ties are styrene, so a solvent-type cement (I use lacquer thinner) works well for securing the planks in place.  For tracks such as Micro Engineering, where the ties are engineering plastic, use contact cement or ca.  The .080" thickness places the top surface of the crossing .003" below the tops of the rails, and four strips at .100" wide fit perfectly between the moulded-on spike heads between the rails. 
For your Code100 track, use strips .100"x.100", which should place the top of the crossing flush with the tops of the rails - if your coupler trip pins clear turnouts, they'll clear the crossings, too.  Placing the planks between the spike heads also leaves a suitable flangeway for the train's wheels.

For the approaches on either side of the track, you'll need two strips of material, as shown in the drawing bleow.  The shim (in red) should be as thick as or slightly thicker than the height of the spike head, while the filler (in green) should bring the total height equal to (but no higher than) the top of the rail. 


Before cutting the individual planks from the styrene strips, drag a razor saw along its length to create some "woodgrain".  After cutting the planks to length, bevel the ends slightly, as shown below:  this will help to lessen problems if a coupler with an errant trip pin happens by. Wink  I used a brush to paint the surfaces of the individual planks, using PollyScale paint, first applying black, then, while it was still wet, adding some streaks of brown.  The strips were then cemented in place.


You can use the same technique for gravel roads, too, simply by eliminating (or not) the two middle planks:


...and it's also useful for creating set-offs for handcars:


Wayne

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • 2,616 posts
Posted by peahrens on Monday, October 13, 2014 7:23 AM

Wayne, thanks for the nice example.  A related question...would these strips have the flexibility to use in a curve?  And a slightly unrelated question...how do you make your adjacent concrete roadway?  Thanks.

Paul

Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Monday, October 13, 2014 11:32 AM

The strips are flexible enough to work on a curve - I pre-bent mine to roughly match the curve before cementing them in place.
Because our curves are much tighter than prototypical ones, the curved planks are necessary, but not, I think, very prototypical.  Still, once they're in place and become only one element in the overall scene, they don't really stand out as abnormal. 
This one (aerial photo courtesy of Secord Air Services) is on a 34" radius:

 

The roadway in the first set of photos was done using pre-mixed drywall mud.  While it's very easy to use, it shouldn't be applied too thickly, as it then tends to crack in a non-prototypical way.  If you use it, build it up in thin layers, allowing it to dry between coats.  It's very easy to sand, but it's also very easy to damage:  the apparent patches are for real, as layout vacuuming or placing a camera on it none-too-carefully will easily gouge it.  I filled the gouges with more mud, then used a brush and some thinned PollyScale to accentuate road repairs made at various times.
The road in the photo above was done as part of the surrounding scenery, which is Durabond-90 patching plaster over aluminum window screen.  It can be "worked" much the same as the drywall mud, but contains a catalyst which causes it to set in 90 minutes (they offer it in other setting times, too, denoted by the number in the name).  Once set, it becomes difficult to sand and when fully hardened, extremely difficult to sand.  It does, however, stand up extremely well and can be applied to just about any depth without fear of cracking.  I colour it with thinned PollyScale but any water-based paint should work.

Here's the same spot from the viewpoint of a motorist:


Wayne

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 7,486 posts
Posted by ndbprr on Monday, October 13, 2014 12:39 PM
With c ode 100 if on a straight track you might consider an Atlas rerailer for a grade crossing. It even has seams between planks molded into it.
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Southeast Texas
  • 5,449 posts
Posted by mobilman44 on Monday, October 13, 2014 2:18 PM

Noooo, leave the ties alone.  Build up the cross over with strips of styrene or wood, or even gravel depending on the road in question.   As long as the covering does not exceed the rail height, you will not have a couple interference.

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

  • Member since
    May 2007
  • From: East Haddam, CT
  • 3,272 posts
Posted by CTValleyRR on Monday, October 13, 2014 2:46 PM

peahrens

Wayne, thanks for the nice example.  A related question...would these strips have the flexibility to use in a curve?  And a slightly unrelated question...how do you make your adjacent concrete roadway?  Thanks.

 

While you can curve the materials, I admit to being lazy on this count.  Blair Line sells prefabricated wood crossings, etched to make it look like they are composed of short straight sections, and include a thinner strip for outside the rails.

They cost $3 each (sold in sets of 2) and come in 15, 18, 22, 24, 30, and 36" radius versions.

Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Monday, October 13, 2014 4:08 PM

What a timely topic as I am just making some wooden level crossings today. I was also making a cattle guard crossing as I remember these on the ranch. You could drive the pickup or tractor across and the cattle would stay put.

 Googling cattle guards on train tracks brings up many examples. A cattle guard over the tracks is something else that can add to a scene.

 

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: US
  • 2,455 posts
Posted by wp8thsub on Monday, October 13, 2014 5:41 PM

I normally build crossings from stripwood attached directly to the ties.  Flexible CA like Microbond or Poly Zap works well for this application and is durable.  Scale 6"X8" stripwood works well with code 83 rail, but you may want to go thicker with code 100.

here's an eary stage of building a crossing.  I chamfer the ends like the prototype to prevent any dragging equipment from catching.  Properly tuned coupler trip pins don't hang down between the rails anyway.

This is the same crossing when it was completed.  Paint, ballast and weathering blend it in.

This close-up illustrates a  wood crossing in an asphalt road made with sanded tile grout.  Assembly was the same as for the example in the dirt road.  I added the crossing timbers first and built the road up to them.

Here's a more normal view of the same road.  The grout discolored the wood, but I could easily re-color the wood as part of the final weathering.

Rob Spangler

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Monday, October 13, 2014 11:33 PM

Good-looking crossings, Rob, and I always enjoy seeing your very well-done right of way.  The skillful blending of the modelled scenes with the backdrop doesn't hurt, either.  Thumbs Up


Wayne

  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: US
  • 2,455 posts
Posted by wp8thsub on Monday, October 13, 2014 11:40 PM

Thanks, Wayne!  Bow

I was reminded that I had prototype photos that might be helpful.  These are on the UP's Malad branch in northern Utah.

x

Rob Spangler

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • From: Enfield, CT
  • 935 posts
Posted by Doc in CT on Thursday, October 16, 2014 10:28 AM

For a more contemporary look, these are prototype photos from Bloomfield CT (rubber strips and ashphalt) and Stafford Springs CT (timber and ashphalt).

Grade crossing Bloomfield

Detail of grade crossing

Timber and asphalt crossing

Detail of timber and asphalt crossing.

Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/

  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Eastern Shore Virginia
  • 3,290 posts
Posted by gandydancer19 on Thursday, October 16, 2014 10:45 AM

Grade crossings for model railroads should be installed so that the track or rails stick up above the roadway about 1/32 inch.  This allows you to run a bright-boy on the track without letting it scrub on the road part of the crossing.  It will still look good and you or visitors will not notice the height difference.

Elmer.

The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.

(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Thursday, October 16, 2014 7:40 PM

These grade crossings showed up on sale in the Walthers flyer one month, so I bought some.  They are from Blair Line.  This is code 87 track:

Or, from 90 degrees away:

My roads are done with Durham's Water Putty from the hardware store.  I drew the lines with a gel pen.

These came out nice, but to get the outer strips to butt up against the rails I had to notch them lengthwise so they would fit over the molded-on spikes on the flex track.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 918 posts
Posted by Kyle on Thursday, October 16, 2014 7:49 PM

wp8thsub

I normally build crossings from stripwood attached directly to the ties.  Flexible CA like Microbond or Poly Zap works well for this application and is durable.  Scale 6"X8" stripwood works well with code 83 rail, but you may want to go thicker with code 100.

here's an eary stage of building a crossing.  I chamfer the ends like the prototype to prevent any dragging equipment from catching.  Properly tuned coupler trip pins don't hang down between the rails anyway.

This is the same crossing when it was completed.  Paint, ballast and weathering blend it in.

This close-up illustrates a  wood crossing in an asphalt road made with sanded tile grout.  Assembly was the same as for the example in the dirt road.  I added the crossing timbers first and built the road up to them.

Here's a more normal view of the same road.  The grout discolored the wood, but I could easily re-color the wood as part of the final weathering.

 

Your back drop is amazing! It looks so realistic, it is hard to tell that it is a backdrop.  An excellent job, it can't get much better than that.

 

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Friday, October 17, 2014 7:10 AM

Kyle noticed:

Your back drop is amazing! It looks so realistic, it is hard to tell that it is a backdrop.  An excellent job, it can't get much better than that.

And some of his prototype photos look almost as good as his models!

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    August 2021
  • From: High Point, NC
  • 8 posts
Posted by Flagman515 on Friday, December 30, 2022 3:49 PM

Rob, nice work on the crossings and an excellent job of blending the road in

the background!!

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!