My sons and I want to start an HO layout that would include switches (turnouts) on paved streets, but are lost as how to do so and make it look realistic. We are most concerned with the area between the moving rails, closest to the points. Can someone please provide some insight as to how we can go about it convincingly?
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Use thin styrene mounted on basswood to bring it to just under rail level, painted to look like concrete and cut to allow enough room for flanges and point movement.
You can use cardstock for the street outside the rails, but you need the styrene inside the rails as the flanges will soften and fray the cardstock over time. Styrene will hold it's shape.
John Pryke details it in his book Building City Scenery For Your Model Railroad (Kalmbach, 2000).
Hope this helps.
M.C. Fujiwara
My YouTube Channel (How-to's, Layout progress videos)
Silicon Valley Free-moN
Sincere thanks. I'll certainly try that.
In areas where there are no switches, I've used colored plaster to pave the area, then cut flangeways with a hacksaw blade after the plaster dried.
A caveat. Don't do this with handlaid track. The plaster is corrosive to steel, and it rusted the spikes I used to handlay the track, which then stained the plaster roadway. I did this a different time with flextrack and brass pins, and had no staining problems.
I used to be clueless, but i've turned that around 360 degrees.
I forgot: Walthers also sells a street track inlay set. The pieces snap over the track, then you use brick or asphalt street material on either side. They have switch inlays, too.
In addition to the method mentioned, there are a couple of ways to accomplish this. While I managed to avoid the points (moveable parts) of the turnouts, you need only allow sufficient space to permit the required movement.
My track is Atlas code 83, so I used .060" thick sheet styrene for the road surfaces. On the outside edges of the rails, the styrene sits atop the moulded-on spike heads, placing its upper surface flush with the rail tops. Unless you're using Micro Engineering track, you can use any solvent-type cement (I use ordinary lacquer thinner) to attach the plastic to the ties. My layout base here is plywood, so I used contact cement to affix the broader paved surfaces directly to the plywood, forming a natural slope away from the rails. Between the rails, I used .080" sheet styrene, cutting it wide enough to just fit snugly between the moulded-on spike heads - this leaves natural flangeways for the rolling stock's wheels. The styrene is attached directly to the ties with solvent-type cement.
For curved track, I layed a sheet of paper over the rails, then, while holding it firmly in place, rubbed over the rails with a soft pencil, held on-edge. This creates a pattern for both abutting surfaces (simply cut out the outer portions of the paper, then trace the cut edges onto your styrene sheet. For the between-the-rails portion, you'll need to draw lines on the paper parallel to the traced ones, reducing the width on each side by the width of the spike heads. After re-cutting the paper to the proper width, trace it onto the styrene. If you need to make adjustments to the styrene, use a mill file for lengthy edges or needle files for minor alterations. The thickness of the styrene will, of course, depend on the height of the rail which you're using - ideally, the "pavement" outside of the rails will end-up flush with the rail tops, while that between the rails will end-up slightly below the rail heads. This ensures that coupler trip pins won't catch on the crossing and that track cleaning efforts won't necessitate re-painting the road surface.
You can also create your roads from plaster - hydrocal, plaster-of-Paris, or, my choice, Durabond patching plaster, will work well. I'd advise against drywall mud: while it's easy to use, it's also too soft for this use and much more prone to cracking when applied in the required thicknesses. Application outside of the rails is straightforward. Between the rails (and around the moveable points) use plastic angle iron as is available from Evergreen, sized appropriately, of course, to the height of your rail. Butt the vertical edge against the spike heads and affix the horizontal surface directly to the tie-tops with solvent-type cement, then fill in the space between the two angle irons with plaster.
Wayne
Traction layouts have street trackage & some form of paving.
Since you are not doing overhead wire, simply ignore that part of any traction article, but do pay attention to the street paving tips. Traction layouts are model railroads.
[1] Trolleyville Schoolhouse has 6 lessons in Room 2 (Track Construction) including how to use styrene or water putty, street painting, road crowning for greater realism, "foam-prints" to transfer patterns to cut styrene (if used) to the tracks, etc.
[2] Building A Traction Layout is a 23-page thread at The Trolley Line Forum. There are tons of instructional construction pictures with the full range of model railroad track & scenery implementation. Track-plastering starts here at Page Eight.
[3] Modeling Electrified Railroads, a Kalmbach Information Station PDF-download, is still complimentary. Chapter 3 is "Paving & Scenery" with detailed street paving instructions. Note the use of track-paving templates, and; slower-setting patching plaster instead faster-setting plaster of paris for street paving.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Thank you all for some very enlightening tips. I greatly appreciate all the help!
doctorwayne In addition to the method mentioned, there are a couple of ways to accomplish this. While I managed to avoid the points (moveable parts) of the turnouts, you need only allow sufficient space to permit the required movement. My track is Atlas code 83, so I used .060" thick sheet styrene for the road surfaces. On the outside edges of the rails, the styrene sits atop the moulded-on spike heads, placing its upper surface flush with the rail tops. Unless you're using Micro Engineering track, you can use any solvent-type cement (I use ordinary lacquer thinner) to attach the plastic to the ties. My layout base here is plywood, so I used contact cement to affix the broader paved surfaces directly to the plywood, forming a natural slope away from the rails. Between the rails, I used .080" sheet styrene, cutting it wide enough to just fit snugly between the moulded-on spike heads - this leaves natural flangeways for the rolling stock's wheels. The styrene is attached directly to the ties with solvent-type cement. For curved track, I layed a sheet of paper over the rails, then, while holding it firmly in place, rubbed over the rails with a soft pencil, held on-edge. This creates a pattern for both abutting surfaces (simply cut out the outer portions of the paper, then trace the cut edges onto your styrene sheet. For the between-the-rails portion, you'll need to draw lines on the paper parallel to the traced ones, reducing the width on each side by the width of the spike heads. After re-cutting the paper to the proper width, trace it onto the styrene. If you need to make adjustments to the styrene, use a mill file for lengthy edges or needle files for minor alterations. The thickness of the styrene will, of course, depend on the height of the rail which you're using - ideally, the "pavement" outside of the rails will end-up flush with the rail tops, while that between the rails will end-up slightly below the rail heads. This ensures that coupler trip pins won't catch on the crossing and that track cleaning efforts won't necessitate re-painting the road surface. You can also create your roads from plaster - hydrocal, plaster-of-Paris, or, my choice, Durabond patching plaster, will work well. I'd advise against drywall mud: while it's easy to use, it's also too soft for this use and much more prone to cracking when applied in the required thicknesses. Application outside of the rails is straightforward. Between the rails (and around the moveable points) use plastic angle iron as is available from Evergreen, sized appropriately, of course, to the height of your rail. Butt the vertical edge against the spike heads and affix the horizontal surface directly to the tie-tops with solvent-type cement, then fill in the space between the two angle irons with plaster. Wayne
Wayne,
Your road approaches to the tracks are pretty long and broad. I assume that these approaches are "sloped" or angled to cross the tracks at the height of the rails. So, how do you accomplish the rise from a level road to a sloped approach to the rails?
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain Your road approaches to the tracks are pretty long and broad. I assume that these approaches are "sloped" or angled to cross the tracks at the height of the rails. So, how do you accomplish the rise from a level road to a sloped approach to the rails?
Rich, the layout surface in this area is 3/4" plywood (not intentionally that thick, but I had scrap that was big enough to cover the benchwork in this area, which I had already planned to be an area of roads, parking lots, and structures) but any solid surface should work - I'm not too sure about foam, though.
After the styrene was cut to fit, I used a 2" brush to paint the underside of it with lacquer thinner - this was used as a "prep" before applying a coat of solvent-based contact cement, as it seems to prevent the solvent in the contact cement from being "used-up" on the surface of the styrene. I'm not sure of the chemistry behind it, but I know, through experience, that it gives a much better bond of the contact cement to the styrene. I generally apply the lacquer thinner, then paint the contact cement onto the plywood, then onto the styrene. If the plywood absorbs too much, it gets a second coat, then the cement is left to dry for at least 15 or 20 minutes. When everything is ready for installation, I use the wide brush to liberally apply lacquer thinner to the ends of the ties, then, using pre-made alignment marks on the plywood and styrene, press the sheets into place. In most cases, there's no need to clamp or hold the sheets in place, as the bond is instantaneous and strong. The .060" styrene is flexible enough that it forms its own slope from the railtops to "ground level". (For Atlas code 83 rail, .060" styrene sittting atop the mould-on spike heads comes out flush with the top of the rail - for other codes and brands of track you'll need to adjust accordingly). As you can see in the photo below, the street to the right is considerably lower (ran out of 3/4" plywood ) and there's even a dip between the two right-hand tracks (note the gap under the base of the crossing watchmans shanty - some stuff here is not yet permanently installed).
The .060" styrene (or appropriate thickness for your particular track) is also useful for unpaved roads and ones made from plaster, too. I used Evergreen .060"x.100" styrene strips atop the spike heads, with a strip of .080"x125" cemented to its outer edge and to the ties below to create the planks which were often used between the rails and the actual pavement. This allowed tie and rail maintenance without having to dig-up the pavement. On the example below, the planks between the rails are .080" thick and of a combination of widths to just fit between the spike heads. All visible surfaces were pre-distressed by dragging a razor saw along their length and the assembly was painted after installation.
The same technique can be used for gravel and dirt roads, too:
...and also for handcar set-outs:
If you want tighter flangeways, either trim the oversize spike heads or laminate narrow .060" high strips to the sides of the .080" material.
I really need to try your method.
What I have been doing is running the road up to the tracks, then using strips of light wood or trips of styrene on a sharp angle to reach the height of the rails. It works, but it doesn't look entirely realistic.
Thanks for explaining that and for the photos. Looks pretty neat.
On another thread somewhere, maybe even here, I came across this site:
http://www.proto87.com/easy-street--track-system.html
They provide track and matching road-surface material. It's actually "girder track," with built-in flangeways. It's designed for trolley lines and, as they mentioned, dockside operations. I'm planning an urban dockside scene with a car float, so I'm giving this option some serious thought.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I attended the Greenberg show in Wilmington, MA this past weekend, and picked up an Atlas #4 turnout and some snap track to experiment with. I'll try the excellent tips mentioned above. I'm thinking of two thin layers of plastic bonded together. One scribed like cobble stones under another one representing pavement. The pavement layer will have the occasional cracks and voids exposing the cobbles underneath. My goal is to have a small switching layout based on Pratt Street & dock operations in Baltimore. At the same show, I picked up 2 0-4-0 Dockside switchers. One, a Varney, the other, a Rivarossi.
Thank you again for all the great tips and links.Jim
This guy has a tutorial on making roads using craft foam and plaster.
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm
Also, the site below has a lot of photos of rails in pavement.
http://chicagoswitching.com/v6/articles/default.asp
Look at the two pics below. At the bottom of each pic you can see that there isn't any asphalt between the moving points.
http://chicagoswitching.com/v6/articles/picturedisplay.asp?photograph=../../$library/Kingsbury/tb_mrha_CandESouthLine_10_1980_02.jpg
http://chicagoswitching.com/v6/articles/picturedisplay.asp?photograph=../../$library/Kingsbury/tb_mrha_CandESouthLine_10_1980_03.jpg
Here's a good shot of one that has pavement between the points, but there's a guide rail to keep the pavement away from the points.
http://chicagoswitching.com/v6/articles/picturedisplay.asp?photograph=../../$library/Kingsbury/tb_waterbedframe_121987_1_1.jpg
And here's another...
http://chicagoswitching.com/v6/articles/picturedisplay.asp?photograph=../../$library/Lakewood/tb_mrha_CandEnorthline_09_1980_06.jpg
A long time ago in an issue of MR (late 70s, early 80s) they had an article about using rail meant for trolleys for modeling trackage in pavement. The rail had sort of a U shaped cross section so that there was an internal guide rail to keep pavement away from the rail. Does anyone know if they still sell this stuff.
ETA: Sorry, I didn't notice that MisterBeasley linked to the girder rail at the Proto87 site.
Steve S
MisterBeasley On another thread somewhere, maybe even here, I came across this site: http://www.proto87.com/easy-street--track-system.html They provide track and matching road-surface material. It's actually "girder track," with built-in flangeways. It's designed for trolley lines and, as they mentioned, dockside operations. I'm planning an urban dockside scene with a car float, so I'm giving this option some serious thought.
Mister Beasley,
There is some very interesting stuff on that web site.
Gotta love these forums. If the answer is here, there is a link to provide answers to questions.
Thanks for posting that link.
richhotrain Mister Beasley, There is some very interesting stuff on that web site. Gotta love these forums. If the answer is here, there is a link to provide answers to questions. Thanks for posting that link. Rich
I got very interested in that product. Last night, I pulled out the old credit card and ordered enough to take care of the street-running track with cobblestone streets in Mooseport, my carfloat terminal area. I'll take pictures as this gets going.
MisterBeasley richhotrain: Mister Beasley, There is some very interesting stuff on that web site. Gotta love these forums. If the answer is here, there is a link to provide answers to questions. Thanks for posting that link. Rich I got very interested in that product. Last night, I pulled out the old credit card and ordered enough to take care of the street-running track with cobblestone streets in Mooseport, my carfloat terminal area. I'll take pictures as this gets going.
richhotrain: Mister Beasley, There is some very interesting stuff on that web site. Gotta love these forums. If the answer is here, there is a link to provide answers to questions. Thanks for posting that link. Rich
Please do.
While researching the Fells Point area of Baltimore for my layout, I came across a web site that has loads of photos of that area with tracks embedded in pavement and cobblestones. All photos have trains being run on streets. Worth looking at:
http://prr.railfan.net/RubberTiredSwitchers.html