To cork roadbed or not?

[Anonymous]

dpaton: would you share your secret with us and tell us what "the really nice stuff" is?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by simon1966

The Midwest products brand of cork I used seems to be more of a compisite material of cork and rubber. So far there is no hint of it drying or crumbling.

I started using the MW cork 14 years ago, and have had no problems either. Maybe some of the cheaper no-name brands dry out and crumble than the MW.

Although if I ever get around to revising/rebuilding my layout, I'm tempted to give some of that Woodland Scenics foam rubber roadbed a try - I really like the feel of it, and because you can get it in long rolls instead of just 3' strips.

[Anonymous]

I love cork, but I make my own roadbed from some really nice stuff I get from a distributor.

-dave

[fiatfan]

One thing I have noticed is that whether you use cork, homasote or what ever, once you glue the ballast with white glue/water, the sound absorbing qualities are not as good.

Tom

[jrbernier]

I have cork that has been down since 1987 - no crumbling, but I am sure it is hard as a rock! I had a few section left over and I stored it for future use - I was so hard that it broke when I tried to flex it.
That said, I use 'Homabed' for all of my mainline track, and cork for the sidings/spurs.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

I've had cork roadbed on one of my pairs of modules for about 20 years now without any problems, And these modules have seen a lot of banging around over the years. I imagine on a home layout there should not be much of a problem.

BobBoudreau

[AggroJones]

You can revitalize old brittle cork by soaking it in warm water for a few hours. I use weights to hold keep them submerged. Then you take it out, dry it off some and lay it while it's still flexible.

[SpaceMouse]

when I heard that cork cut the noise levels down I kind-of poo-pooed it, thinking, "How much noise can there be?" Well, I have one short section of track where EZ track runs on plywood. The trains hit that and they sound like they lost a wheel off the rail. The difference is substantial.

[orsonroy]

My test track is my dad's old HO scale test track. He built it in 1965 (give or take) out of cork roadbed and True Scale flextrack with code 100 brass rail and fiber ties(!). The cork is dry, but not crumbly 40 years later. Take that as you want, but I don't think cork disintegrating on you will be much of an issue.

That said, I don't use cork any more, except on Ntrak module mainlines. Call me cheap, but for my HO scale layout (with it's over 400 feet of track) I decided to make my own roadbed out of 1/2" thick pink foam.

I think all roadbed works equally well for what it is: a scenic element. You don't NEED roadbed to build a successful layout, no more than you NEED any scenery at all. It's all in how much time, effort and money you're willing to put into your hobby, and what your desired end result is.

[simon1966]

The Midwest products brand of cork I used seems to be more of a compisite material of cork and rubber. So far there is no hint of it drying or crumbling.

[SilverSpike]

That is the question!

As a forward to this posting I hope that it is not a "beaten horse topic". If it is an over used topic, my apologies, and thanks in advance. Just trying to learn and absorb some more knowledge here!

I have already done some searching in the forums with the keywords "cork", ”cork roadbed”, and “roadbed”, and have found many references in previous postings to cork, including how to apply, what adhesive to use, how to cut it, etc....

So, here is my point, err, questions:

I remember hearing somewhere that cork dries out over time and can crumble.

Have you ever had cork roadbed crumble on your layout?

If this really is an issue, how do you prevent the cork roadbed from crumbling?

What roadbed material do you use if not using cork?

Maybe this is a non-issue, I do not know!

Thanks again in advance for answering any or all of my questions posed in this posting.

Ryan