Do I need cork/foam roadbed on top of Homasote?

Hi Ron,

You are correct. It's probably not going to do much good. One thing that might help is to make sure when you screw your track down, only screw into the homosote. If screws go thru the homosote and into the plywood then the sound/vibration will be transmitted to the plywood which defeats the purpose of the homosote. Homosote holds screw pretty darn well. If your planning on ballasting as you said, the ballasting will solidify all the track work.

Need? No.  Will it make a difference?  Some.  Is it worth the money/effort? Good luck getting a consensus. 

Cork, not so much, I doubt is you would notice much difference. 

Foam... Yes you will notice a much better sound reduction.  I think it is well worth the extra $$$.      But don't ley me tell you how to spend your money.  Keep in mind however, that once tour track is laid and ballasted you can't go back. 

Assuming that the Homasote you used is in flat sheet(s)--essentially just a top layer on the plywood--it still would enhance the realism to have the track mounted on roadbed, either cork or foam (Woodland Scenics makes the latter).  The track-on-roadbed can then be ballasted, and if done properly it will look far more like the prototype.  As an added benefit, once the track is ballasted, and the ballast secured in place with the usual way of gluing it (covered in several past threads here), you can remove any screws used to temporarily anchor the track in place.  The glued ballast will hold things nicely.

If you ever need to reposition the track, hot water applied to the glued-down sections will loosen the glue sufficiently so you can lift and reposition or remove the track sections.

I have 3/4 inch plywood with Homasote on top. I like the sound, but everyone is different. I often trains engines with consists at the same time.They are command. Now and then I turn off the command sound and just enjoy the trains clanking mildly on the tract.

I used RealTrax so I did not have to worry about raising the track for realism.   

I have never heard of the "hot water" trick to loosen glued ballast. I just hack away! A dreaded task. I have a section in mind that needs repair that I will try the hot water on. Great tip.

When you hear real trains you here the clanking so why try to deading every sound on your layout?

one thong COrk roadbed will give you is the raised look and when ballasting you will see the difference. Also if you are so concerned about the screws amplifying the noise once ballasted and glued you can remove the screws, the glue will hld everything in place

The homosote will stop the noise from being amplified under the layout. Your track will not be that noisy.

I am on the side of the opinion of the cork or rubber roadbed for the ballasted appearance. Someone posted that rubber roadbed lets the track float. The roadbed is glued to the baseboard.

Adding cork on top of the homasote will not make an appreciable difference in the sound.  Additionally, the ties on Gargraves, Ross, Atlas are about twice as high as they should be. The rails are also overly high. So in my view, the tracks look much better when they are not raised any higher. Once the tracks are ballasted, you can't tell how high the ties are and the track and ballast appear to have a realistic profile.

Using water to loosen ballast works like a champ as long as you have used white glue as your bonding agent. Also, to echo what Alan said--once the track is ballasted, the glue that holds the ballast will also keep the track in place. Screws are not necessary.

We used 18 gauge brads to fasten the track to the homasote. Only 5/8" brads so they do NOT go through the homasote and into the plywood. Drive the brads down into the ties and you won't see them anyway.

We did use cork on top on the mainlines, not for sound purposes, but to elevate the mainlines from the siding tracks. On our lower level, where there are no sidings, the track went directly on top of the homasote, and then we used Dennis' idea of the N scale cork roadbed on the outside of the ties to help create the ballast profile and lessen the slope a bit.

So we did use cork along with Homasote, but for a specific purpose other than sound deadening. 

 Lower loop with N scale cork on the outside of the ties.

O gauge cork under the mainlines. Sidings drop down to homasote base level with N scale cork on the outside again to lower the ballast profile.

The track on the left has homasote and cork for elevation as its a mainline. The track to the left is the industry lead and does not have cork, so it's a bit lower in elevation. The industry tracks drop down even lower to the base level where tracks will be embedded in the dirt. Also notice the size difference in ballast from the mainline to the industry lead.

We have a rather talented craftsman in our club who uses plywood cut to route of the track, then cuts the homosite with angled sides like the cork or foam would come cut, using the homosote as the roadbed, and his method works very well deadening the sound, no cork, no foam.

lay the track right on the plywood.

run em LOUD, fast and furious!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the responses.  Just got back from a trip and can now thank you for the great ideas here.  The idea of having the main line higher then the sidings/secondary track is something to think about.  Since I'm still undecided, I'm going to lay some test tracks and see what I like. 

Thanks again, everyone.

Ron