Trackage in industrial areas

[gd891]

Just about every article or picture of laying model railroad track seems to assume that you're building a highly used, 132 pound mainline out in the country. You know, nice ballast profile, drainage ditches, etc.

I'm modeling a very urban layout with lots of industrial trackage. It seems that most of that trackage doesn't seem to have the same roadbed profile as the high iron.

What have others done to model this type of trackage?

Do you still lay down cork roadbed and do your normal ballasting? How does that look when you put an industry building next to it? Do you have to raise the building so the building's doors match the railcar height?

Or, do you lay the track directly on the sub-base (homasote, foam, whatever)?

Greg

[Anonymous]

I put my buildings on cork. If done right the siding and building will be slightly lower than the main, but not too low.

[Anonymous]

Greg, I am not going to use normal roadbed and ballast for my industrial area. That is, in the city industrial area. Particularly at street level. Some modelers use lower profile cork (N scale for HO) and some use lower code track to lower rail height (i.e. code 75 instead of code 100). You can also just level the area with ballast (as in train yards). Usually the building will line up OK alongside the track if you cut some ballast out next to the track. You may have to experiment and see what works for you.

[jecorbett]

Some modelers use lighter rail for their industrial trackage. In HO that could mean code 70 or even code 55. Doing so requires some sort of transition track. I would guess that few modelers go to that trouble. Most of us use the same code track as for our mainline, whether that is code 83 or 100. To some, rail height is an important issue but it isn't to me. I just don't think it is something I or most observers would even notice. It's just another of the choices we all make.

It all depends on the situation whether I lower the industrial track below the mainline. If I have room to make a smooth transition to take the track down to the base, I will do so. In other situations, I use sheets of 1/8" foam which matches the thickness of Woodland Scenics foam roadbed. I will lay the sheet over the plywood so everything is at the same level including the ground the industry will rest on. This mimics the prototype. In some situations, I have seen the spur tracks drop off and others they are at the same level as the mainline.

I run into this same issue in my passenger depots. The track coming into the stations is on raised roadbed but the platforms need to be brought up to that level. I just turn a piece of WS roadbed upside down so it matches the bevel of the mainline roadbed and then mount the platform on top of it.

[DigitalGriffin]

Well that all depends:

If your train runs in the middle of a city street (like on a pier scene) you'll want to fill the interior with concrete so cars can drive over it.

Like someone said, Industry track is much lighter. So spurs should use code 70 and a lower profile roadbed (like N Scale)

If you have multiple parallel tracks, like in a mini-yard, you'll want to use a flat sheet of N Scale roadbed because such yards were flat. (Often they were crossed by foot, hence why they were individually ballasted) You can get N-Scale sheets from woodland scenics.

Industry spurs are usually ballasted out of cheaper lower grade stuff, like cinder ash or wood chips. Ties were further apart and more sporadically spaced.

Kalmbach has two good books. One of laying track, and another on "Building City Scenery" that should give you a good clue or two about those roads. :-D

Have fun
~D

[tomikawaTT]

Don't bet that industrial track is lighter! I recently found a new (rails are dated 2000) industrial lead laid with 132# rail. I assume that the UP traded up-front cost for less maintenance later. Ballast is new and clean, same as adjacent mainline, but only half as thick.

One spur off that lead was still 132# where it disappeared into the asphalt adjacent to a warehouse's loading doors. The railheads got a little narrower a few yards in, so I presume the buried rail was lighter, but only somebody with X-ray vision could prove it.

On the other hand, I've seen similar spurs in older industrial districts that were laid with 75# rail on mud (to the tie tops) ballast, liberally adorned with broken beer bottles and pieces of wind-blown newsprint.

The ultimate was a long, winding spur to a small town lumber and coal dealer that I railfanned about a half century ago on the NYC's West Shore line in New York. Right at the point where the transition joints to the 60# rail were, there was a sign on a post listing all of the classes of locomotives that were NOT to use it - some 90% of the NYC steam roster. The rails were still visible (and bright) in the hip-high weeds.

Chuck.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on age of siding, a newer one will have ballast and newer ties, as some sidings date back sixty years they were probally light rail and ties will be bleached out, also burried in cinders, dirt and weeds. Garbage (cans, broken glass,boards,old steel strap) is usually on it also. If you're ho,you can use code 83 track and if you have to use roadbed, I'd use n scale and use either cardstock or thin foam to keep buildings level.If you paint and weather track and use cinders and clean dirt for ballast, with some ground foam for weeds , you'll get the effect you're looking for.

[Jetrock]

I lay my track directly onto my benchwork (MDF) because much of my track is street running. I surround the track with 1/8" high foamcore, covered with .020" styrene. The exposed (non street running) track is ballasted, sparsely with lots of undergrowth and stains. If a main line runs through an industrial area, it will probably be well-ballasted, with spurs identifiable by less care about ballast and heaviness of rail.

Industrial scenes are ripe for superdetailing: trash and junk, people, equipment, undergrowth and structures can all shine--the scruffier it is, the better!

[tcf511]

You can purchase cork from school supply places that comes in rolls of 4x8 or bigger and is 1/4 inch thick. I'm covering the whole yard area. There is no worry about transitioning from the cork roadbed to the yard because they are the same height. You get the sound deadening qualities of the cork. If you want "sink in" a building you can just cut a section out .

[Anonymous]

Old B&M industrial trackage in the towns around Boston don't have any elevated profile at all. The tops of the ties are pretty flush with the ground. At most, maybe the bottoms of the ties are flush with the ground. This also means that grade crossings don't put any bumps in the streets to match a higher track profile.

For N scale, we drop the height from the mainline down to a lower siding level and switch from code 55 to code 40. The drop can be steep because it's so short.

Cheers,
Maureen

[HAZMAT9]

I'm adding some street running in as well so I used foamboard to transition from roadbed to the city which has industrial areas. I'm laying the track on the foamboard and then embedding the track with styrene plastic to cover the ties.

[Anonymous]

Just to add another 2 cents...I'm laying the 'industrial' track directly on the foam sub roadbed. I put the mainlines on Woodland Scenic black foam.

I'm modelling a small oil 'boom town' in West Texas in the mid 50's and from some of the pics I've been able to find the yards and industrial spurs were run right over the bare ground with little or no ballast at all. I just add the ground cover right up to the tracks -- looks very close to the 'real thing'.

I don't think Texas boom towns did much care and maintenance of their spur or industrial tracks...

[htgguy]

I am also laying track directly on my foam base to simulate industrial trackage. I do try and pay attention to how the prototype gets water away from these flat areas and I try to include appropriate ditches and culverts to handle runoff without letting the subgrade get saturated.

[Anonymous]

Railroads generally do not build industrial tracks on roadbed superstructures like the mainline tracks. Most industrial tracks are below the roadbed. I use wooden shims that can be bought at any lumber/hardware store. Cut it to the proper length. I scenic the industrial track with very little ballast. Mostly dirt and grass, especially between the rails. Depending on the type of industry that the track serves, add appropriate scenic effects in the track detail. The prototypical look from doing this is very good, and is a scenic effect that many do not model correctly (as is evidenced by the responses). Also, passing sidings are built on roadbed that is a little bit lower than the mainline roadbed. The reason for this is so that the engine's headlights are not on the same level and thus not beaming directly into the engineers' eyes. This, too,is often overlooked on model layouts, but the effect is very prototypical.

[K4s_PRR]

My way of making industrial trackage is to lay a a sheet of "yard cork" the same thickness as the mainline cork. Temporarly lay a sheet of 3/8ths cork (available at most craft stores)over the yard cork sheet,draw the edges of tack & turnouts on it. Remove the top sheet & cut the track areas out, lay the track and cork and you have flat areas between the tracks that will be easy to scenic. Note:this is actually easier then it sounds.

Charles Sanchez

[BRJN]

Well, I must be a cheap and lazy bum. (Cranky, too.) I am going to just tack my track directly onto a wood plank and ballast it like that. I am using a Timesaver layout as an industrial switching area. I should be able to upgrade the track later if I ever get enough money and gumption to buy cork &c.

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm very cheap because I lay the track in industrial areas directly on mt plywood base. In areas that the rail is buried in concrete or asphalt I don't even use ties. I handlay the rail spiking it down on the plywood. I use a pinvise and small bit to predrill mt spike holes making spiking the rail down easier.

[nbrodar]

I use Code 100 track everywhere. For paved industrial areas, I use cardboard to bring the ground up level with the rail. Where there is no paving, I lay the track right on the layout surface.

I paint the rail a different color from the mains, and use cinder ballast instead of stone.

Nick

[West Coast S]

I handlay my Code 83 directly to 1/4 inch lunan plywood, who cares about sound transferance.. Oh, I model in S and not one square inch of my layout features "mainline" track, heck ties are absent in select locations, and cheap sand from the Home Depot serves as ballast.

Dave