Alternatives to Homosote for handlaid track

[West Coast S]

Gang...I'm seeking a tight grained, smooth finish wood that is easily spiked and yet retain holding ability over time to be used in leiu of the traditional Homosote of which I have never been fond of [xx(].

If memory serves me, I read a article where clear pine strip was used with great sucess, now I can't remember where I read it or what publication it was featured in, anyone familar with this article?. I'm thinking of lamanating the wood strip to floor cork and/or foam to control transmitted noises.

Tips or suggestions encouraged and appreciated.[8D]

Dave

[Anonymous]

One of my friends who has done quite a bit of hand laying recommends white fir 1" stock.....

[cacole]

It's not wood, but Upson board (sound board) makes a good surface for hand-laid track. It takes spikes without the need to pre-drill except maybe through the crossties, and it holds them well. Sound board is sold locally by three building supply houses in half-inch thick, 4x8 foot sheets.

[billso]

1/8" or 1/4" luan plywood works well. I'm using it laminated to 3/4" plywood for my yard areas. Using homabed on the mainline - a high-quality homasote product made by California Roadbed Co.

[Anonymous]

Have you considered splining the homosote? Cut the sheets in 2" wide strips and fasten them together with dryway screws--you don't have to worry about transitions (they're automatically formed) and you don't even have to fasten the splines to the underlying benchwork. Works great!
As I recall the pine splines used were clear stock or nearly so, cut into 1/4" think strips from 4/4 stock (3/4" thick) and then glued together with spacers ever so often--lots of work, but sturdy and expensive. Clear pine is hard to find nowadays and expensive when you do find it.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm a member of The Model Railroad Club of Union NJ . I mainly lay track on this 120 x 60 ft layout. We used to use Luan plywood (1/4 inch) over plywood and particle board. Because of the variability of quality we have switched to 1/4" Ash. It is smooth and consistant and holds spikes wonderfully. We buy it in 1/4" x 4" x 48" pieces. Available at Home Depot all over the country. Not expensive and the best I've used yet.

Joe

[Anonymous]

Im a member of The Model RAilroad Club of Union NJ. I mainly lay track on this 120 x 60 layout. We once used Luan plywood over plywood and particle board, but it was too inconsistant when driving spikes. We now use 1/4" ash purchased from Home Depot in 1/4" x 4 x 48" pieces. Its not expensive, very smooth and suttable and holds spikes like a dream. Im sure its available at a Hoome Depot near you.


Joe

[Anonymous]

I started into HO back in the 60's, and bought some wooden roadbed made by a vendor called Tru-Scale. It is made of some kind of smooth, clear, light wood. It is very easy to use with spikes. I don't know that it is still made, but if it were, it would probably be expensive. Sounds like some other guys have some modern alternatives. I switched to cork on my present layout when I ran out of the old wooden roadbed, but I don't like it as well.

Doug

[lyctus]

I don't know what this timber would cost in the US, but a great timber to use would be basswood, a clear, tight gained, easy to spike timber which should be readily available from a specialist lumber merchant in your area. Easy to carve as well, could use left overs for pattern making or finished items on the layout.

[Anonymous]

Hi: I have had very good success with a product called "floor under lay".
It is made by Weyerhauser. It is 3/8" thick ply that is very smooth and flat.
The ones that I use are 4'x4' square. Litlle track nails (spikes) push into
this easy and hold. Allows for changes later.

[jfrank138]

I always come back to Homasote.

In the second edition of his "Trackwork Handbook" (1977) the late Paul Mallery (who was a mover and shaker at The Model Railroad Club in New Jersey) rants against the use of Homasote. His complaint was its dimensional instability, especially its tendency to expand and contract with changes in humidity. I have found that NOT to be a problem provided the Homasote is securely laminated (with contact cement) to 1/2 inch plywood; the plywood provides dimensional stability and the Homasote provides sound deadening and ideal spike holding with no pre-drilling required. In addition the Homasote provides easy beveling of mainline roadbed edges and carving of drainage trenches between yard tracks.

[murrietajazz1]

I've never tried this for my layout but have used Whitewood for many other wood projects. It is pre-dried, quite soft, and usually very straight. I can buy it at any time at Home Depot. It is 3/4" thick and comes in various widths but you could slice it to make it thinner on a table saw or band saw.[8D]

[nobullchitbids]

Tru-Scale "roadbed" was white pine, one of the best woods to use and strongly recommended. I've no experience with ash but suspect it also would be good, given its "whippy" characteristics. And, yes, I have a copy of Mallery's book: He also recommended only white pine, with yellow pine a close but definite second.

I would think fir would not have quite as tight a grain and therefore not as good a spike-holding ability.

I checked Walthers to see if Tru-Scale still were around; nothing came up; however, I did find hits with Ribbon Rail (upson board) and Northeastern Scale Lumber (apparently similar to Tru-Scale). N.B.: NESL roadbeds are being discontinued.

[petrosnz]

May I gently suggest that by looking to move from Homasote to wood you are proposing a move in entirely the wrong direction.
I had a long battle to reduce noise from my track, and only really made progress when I came upon Iain Rice's book, "An approach to building finescale track in 4mm scale".
There's a lot more detail in his book, but basically, Iain points out the importance of real track being resilient, as we all know it is. He reasons strongly that model track should be similarly resilient.
To this end he suggests 5/16"-thick foam trackbed; he uses a camping mat.
I have now adopted this approach and it's great, everything not only runs more smoothly, but as I hoped is much quieter.
Of course there is no spiking, you must glue the track down, but that is no problem to do.
To lay track on wood is tantamount to a real railroad laying its rails on concrete, something it never does, there is always a layer of rubber between the rails and the concrete.
Peter

[bikerraypa]

Celotex works pretty well. It's a fiberboard that's not quite as dense as homasote. Cheap too.


Ray out

[bogp40]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jfsantomauro

Im a member of The Model RAilroad Club of Union NJ. I mainly lay track on this 120 x 60 layout. We once used Luan plywood over plywood and particle board, but it was too inconsistant when driving spikes. We now use 1/4" ash purchased from Home Depot in 1/4" x 4 x 48" pieces. Its not expensive, very smooth and suttable and holds spikes like a dream. Im sure its available at a Hoome Depot near you.


Joe

I beleive that the 1/4" ply you refer to is Birch. Ash veneer ply is available only from specialty mill suppliers and high end lumber yards. Birch ply is very stable and easy to work.
Bob K.

[Anonymous]

im into woodworking and carving theres balsa wood i dont think it would be as good as bass wood which i think is less expensive. tight grained, smooth finish wood that is easily spiked and i beleive it would retain holding ability over time

[bn7026]

I used Balsa wood on a module I built a few years ago. I found it held the spikes excellently - better than the other roadbed i used which was similar to homasote.

[Anonymous]

OF OF? DryWAY screws? English, anyone?

[tomikawaTT]

I've been using balsa for both ties and upper roadbed on my current layout, with good success. All of my specialwork is hand-laid, spiked at least every other tie. I'm not hand-laying 'ordinary' track, because my prototype used concrete ties, which are readily available in flex track form. I've found that sheet balsa is less expensive at craft stores than at my LHS.

Incidentally, don't lose money betting that the prototype never laid rail directly on a solid concrete roadbed. Anyone who'se ever seen or ridden some of the subway lines in Tokyo will rake in your chips. (Note - I do not recommend this approach!)

Chuck

[cmrproducts]

Maybe I have the wrong impression of hand laying track here but I always thought that the wood ties and the real spikes held the rail, not long nails and going into the roadbed.

While I have done a number of hand laid turnouts and crossings I always used the PC board ties and once the turnout was done then went back and slid the wood ties under the rails and then ballasted everything in place.

And I know that hand laid track is supposed to be SO much more detailed looking but I still can’t convince myself that having a spike in every 3rd – 5th – 7th tie is what the real railroads do (although I have seen something almost like this on one local railroad). If you really like to spend the time doing this OK but don’t try and tell me this is prototypical! I mean there have been thousands of hours of arguments about whose flex track look more realistic but there hasn’t been much debate on the flex vs handlaid for accurate looks.

BOB H – Clarion, PA

[reklein]

QUOTE: Originally posted by thinman7733

OF OF? DryWAY screws? English, anyone?

[reklein]

QUOTE: Originally posted by thinman7733

OF OF? DryWAY screws? English, anyone?

OOPS sorry, spazzed on the wrong button. Drywall screws are scews that were originally developed for use in fastening gypsum wall board materials to the usually wooden framework of a house, using powerdivers to do the job. They are now used for nearly evey type of wood and metal construction. Advantages are quick application,easy to remove and replace, come in varied thread pitch for different materials, Have different points for different applications. Some have self drilling heads, are galvanized for outdoor use, cane be from 1/2" to 4" long ETC.