Cork road-bed/underlay

[electrical whiz kid]

Addendum;

Per sanding the cork:  Working with wood as in another hobby, I had experience with cork, as well as other similar material in the sealing/contact-cementing dept; so to the table I bring this little ditty.

I will add to this by saying that it is imperative that the sub-road-bed be damned near perfect.  smoothness and uniformity are your best friends here; a lack of which will certainly be your worst nightmare. the longer the sanding block, the fresher the paper, the much less worse for the wear you shall be.  Think of it as a jack, or a fore plane; these tools are fairly long; the idea is to offer stability to the run-or pass..  a long sanding block will do pretty much the same thing.  Oh-and do keep the dust out from collecting in between the paper and the surface.  As Jim mentioned, cork is pretty soft, so it won't take much effort to achieve mucho success; keep an eye on what you are doing and you should be just fine.
The other thing I wanted to refine is that, if properly applied, contact cement-the really good and woozey and smelly stuff-will act like a stable base for your roadbed to rest upon; it won't move, or easily deteriorate.  Good Luck!

Rich C. 

[jbrock27]

...nail sets.  the one feature of this feature is that it saves fingers.  If you want to hold that small a nail with your fingers, that is OK with me-seriously..

Kindest regards;
Rich C.

..but I won't be, as I already said I use track spikes and needle nose pliers, as that works...for me .  So no need for you to be concerned about my fingers, but very kind of you.

For a guy who started this Thread looking for recommendations, you sure seem to be doling out plenty.  Sure you needed any recommendations?

[electrical whiz kid]

Good morning, Jim;

I would not be so inclined.  If I think I might have an idea to make something go easier, I would be so inclined to say something.  What the other person does with that info is their call-not mine.  I don't really need a pat on the back, capeche?

Rich C.

[martin t]

Hi!

My friend Magnus has this simple mathod to ballast model Railroad / Railway tracks in a Three step method.
Excellent and realistic result!

Link to YouTube ->
https://youtu.be/E8yVSMDhvY0

[jbrock27]

Thanks for the video (and the other one you just posted about window making).

You made the comment in the video about the foam road bed costing much less than cork.  Perhaps that is the case where you are in Sweden, but here in Murica, the cost is comparable to cork road bed sold by the box by Midwest-you get 3X as much Midwest cord road bed for about 3X the cost of the foam, so...

One further comment on laying out cork road bed; be sure to stagger your joints.  When laying the first half of one section down, make sure you don't lay the 2nd section next to it, even with it. Instead lay it 1/2"-3/4"less or more, so the 2 sections are not perfectly even in length with each other.

[electrical whiz kid]

Hi Martin;
I have read your tutorials with interest, and per ballasting track-work, I'd like to tell you about Central Valley's tie  system.  A long while ago, the late Jack Parker decided to produce this product; it consists soley of a tie strip with a common system of attachment, letting the user change from straight, to curve, etc. per needed.  I have used it pretty much on the viewing areas of what is going to be my layout.  I mention it especially because you can very easily paint/dry brush/spray colours you desire.  Once this dries, you can secure it to whatever roadbed you prefer, ballast it and then install rail.  It will take from code 55, 70, 75, 81, and 83.  He recommended not using it with code 100.  I especially like the fastening system for the rails; both track and turnouts.
I like how this is all coming out, the big feature to me, is ballasting-and just how simple it is going.  If you haven't heard of it, check it out at their website;  centralvalley.com.

Rich C.     

[Len]

Aside from the cost difference between foam and cork jbrock mentioned, there is also the difference in 'compressability' between the two. I had an unfortunate incident with a Y6b on a friends layout that used foam roadbed. Going into a curve the foam compressed unevenly under the weight of the locomotive, causing it to roll off the outside of the curve and derail a fairly long train. At first we weren't sure what happened, so ran the loco through again by itself, and you could see the foam 'squish' under it's weight just before it tipped off the track again. I've never had that happen with cork roadbed.

Len

[electrical whiz kid]

Len;
I wonder if that would happen on a super-elevated curve?  Depending upon material type, that Mallet could be pretty weighty.  For your sake, I do hope it didn't go down "the big hill"...
Rich C.

[Len]

Len;
I wonder if that would happen on a super-elevated curve?  Depending upon material type, that Mallet could be pretty weighty.  For your sake, I do hope it didn't go down "the big hill"...
Rich C.

No, it just rolled onto the scenary to the outside of the track. My suspicion is it would have rolled to the inside if the track had been super-elevated, which would have put the weight on the inside rail.

Len

[electrical whiz kid]

Well, I certainly hope they had liability...

Rich C.

[Woody Elmore]

to the electrical whiz kid - Well put. If I want to make ballast out of ground up auto carpets then good for me. Cork has been around a long time and I bet that you could find many articles on cork road bed. There are lots of ways to prep it and use it.

In the past I have used thinned Elmers yellow glue, artist's matte medium and old paint. I think that, regardless of the fastening method, sealing is a must.

The same applies to using homasote - it shrinks and swells and should be sealed.

I used to hand lay my own track. I had a home made jig for tie spacing and would put down about two feet of pre-stained wood ties onto the sealed roadbed. Then I spiked in the rail. The wood cross ties held the spikes very nicely.

Anyway - it's a hobby and nothing is written in stone (especially train prices) so try some methods and find the one you like.

[jbrock27]

Cork has been around a long time...I think that, regardless of the fastening method, sealing is a must.

...nothing is written in stone...so try some methods and find the one you like.

I am all for trying different methods or approaches to find something that one likes or works for them Professor, but it is another matter, since as you said, nothing is written in stone, to advise that sealing cork is a must before ballasting.  You 3 (Richie, TM203 and yourself) are the only ones I have come across on planet earth, who have ever said anything about having to seal cork in any fashion, before ballasting.  That includes any of the Kalmbach books that Rich is so fond of suggesting that people read and/or obtain.

Now, if you can tell me what is wrong with Harvey, that would be something

[electrical whiz kid]

Jim;
I'm going out chasing girls; you do your cork...your way...  Have fun.


Rich C

[rogertra]

The same applies to using homasote - it shrinks and swells and should be sealed.

No.  Homasote is really stable.  If you are having problems with track buckling etc., then the issue is with : -

1)  Track with no expansion joints.

2)  Benchwork expanding and contracting.

3)  Poorly laid track.

It will not be with the Homasote.  The stability of Homasote has been mentioned many, many times in the hobby magazines and it's available on the manufacturer's website.

Cheers


Roger T.

[jbrock27]

Jim;
I'm going out chasing girls; you do your cork...your way...  Have fun.


Rich C

Awful late at night for an old timer like yourself for that, isn't it?

I am having fun, thanks.

PS  Was there a reason why you took up that much space in your post?