Track elevation problem

[RRCanuck]

I'm adding a short industrial spur (HO).  My problem is this: the spur comes off the mainline mounted on 3/16" cork roadbed. I'd like to gradually reduce the roadbed thickness to zero over a length of just 24 inches - 30 inches MAX.  To complicate matters, the spur is curved.  Any suggestions, other than cutting and dropping the plywood underneath the roadbed?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Cheers.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The solution I would use is to start with pieces of wood the same thickness as the cork corkbed and make the progressely thinner as they approach the desired point where it would have the track on the layout surface.

[tomikawaTT]

Another possibility is to attack a length of cork roadbed with a Sur-Form tool or a wood rasp.  The downside is that this procedure is a SERIOUS dust generator.

If you don't use track nails or spikes, you can also layer on drywall mud to form the slope.  It will accept latex caulk once cured.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Blind Bruce]

Seamonster gave me a reprint from n scale magazine that covers this exact situation. You can even put a turnout on the slope if you want. It consists of thin styrene edging set into the foam to act as formers for a plaster of paris ramp. It does work with foam and could be adapted to plywood as well. ( just harder to cut the slits for the styrene).

[doctorwayne]

The easiest way to do this is to glue down the cork as far into the siding as you can allow.  I use yellow carpenters glue, but white glue will work too.  Let it dry completely - overnight is good.  Then, using a piece of #36 grit sandpaper folded around a block of wood, start sanding.  You should be able to gauge how much to take off "by eye", and in about two minutes, you'll be done.  Because of the binder in the cork, there's no dust floating around in the air, and the granules are useful as scenic material.  Don't complicate a very simple task.

Wayne

[loathar]

Cork sands pretty EZ and doesn't make that much of a mess. If it was on a straight, you could buy a pack of door/window shims from a home improvement store and use those.

[RRCanuck]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.  I'll start with what seems like the simplest ones (sanding the cork) and see how it goes.  Thanks again.  Cheers.

[Don Z]

There is another method I read about in MR some time ago. Use masking tape to build layers where you want to lower the track. If I remember correctly, the bottom layer of tape extends as far as the length of your slope. The next layer starts about 1/4" or so closer to the turnout and you just keep adding layers of tape until you match the height of the original roadbed, leaving you with a gradual transition to the lower track.

Don Z.

[gmcrail]

A really old (I first heard about it in the Fifties) trick for making a grade is to use cedar shingles - sawn, not split.  You could simply cut your roadbed for the spur out of a shingle, starting where the shingle is the same thickness as the roadbed, and running to the end of the shingle.  Make the roadbed the same width os the track, and build up ballast shoulders with the ballast...

[johncolley]

two ways I've found to really work: a Surform plane or some really rough sandpaper to taper the cork. Don't forget to make the top and bottom transitions gradual vertical curves. Make the maximum slope 1/16" to 1/8" per foot of run. Another tip to accentuate the difference, gradually build up the soil level alongside as the roadbed grade drops so it looks like more of a drop till the ground is about even (but not quite, you want them to just show) with the tops of the ties. I do it with sidings off the main, and with spurs off the sidings. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA (ex Van Island boy)

[RRCanuck]

Thanks again everyone for their suggestions.  They're coming in fast and furious and show a lot of creativity.  I already decided to try the approach of gluing (rather than nailing) road bed to the plywood substructure - that part of the project is now done, and in a day or two I'll try the Surform / rasp / sandpaper approach.  Don's idea of multiple layers of tape in particular sounds like a no-mess approach that I'll keep in mind for the next time. 

It seems that this is an issue a lot of us have encountered.

Thanks again.  Wish me luck. Cheers.

[Blind Bruce]

I tried the shingles and found the grade too high. I wanted more length so the grade would be less steep. Now I wonder if the sanding of the cork method will work when the cork is caulked to foam. I anticipate the cork will flex and not sand as accurately as when glued to plywood.

Am I all wet on this?

[AltoonaRailroader]

Very good question RRCanuck. I was pondering this one myself just the other day. I now have my mainline roadbed down but was wondering how I was going to transverse a mainline with roadbed under it to my transfer yard that will just sit right on top of the foamboard. I also have an incline to go to my mine that will have roadbed under it, but the coal yard itself will not, and I also have my engine maintenance house without, so I will have several transitional area's that I need a "wedge" of roadbed. I think I'll experiment a little myself, but the sanding and the masking tape methods sound reasonable.

 Good luck.

[RRCanuck]

Here's an update.  Yesterday I glued the cork to the plywood and let it set overnight.  Today, just 10 or 15 minutes with the SurForm rasp and some elbow grease, with some touch-up using a file - and it all worked out beautifully.  And - it's as easy to do on a curve as it is on straight.

So, thanks again for the suggestion...it was a fast and simple solution to a vexing problem.

Cheers.