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About to start laying track and strongly considering using Woodland Scenics inclines/declines. The inclines/declines will mostly be on curved track areas on my 072 and 081 Atlas O sectional track double main line. WS requires trackbed and I've been considering vinyl Flexxbed all along. So, Flexxbed will be glued down on homasote. But bending Flexxbed to form curves means it's under tension trying to straighten itself. Anyone have experience to know whether Flexxbed on top of the WS foam creates enough tension to warp/distort the foam curvatures? Thanks. Peter
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PJB,

 

I am using WS inclines, but did not use roadbed on top.  Reason is I found the WS inclines to be just wide enough to handle O scale track.  The roadbed was too wide for the inclines.  I seem to remember that WS inclines were listed as "HO" and to use two rows for "O" scale.  That scheme would use a lot of real estate, at least for my layout.  I have had no issues with the one row and no roadbed.

 

Bill

Not sure I understand. How is it possible to lay track right on top of the WS foam - on a curve - and ballast it, or without the track seemingly floating over all the hollow spaces?   WS inclines are like accordians and as you curve it, each foam section separates and there are open areas in between. Without a flat surface on top, all the ballast would just fall through.
Originally Posted by PJB:
About to start laying track and strongly considering using Woodland Scenics inclines/declines. The inclines/declines will mostly be on curved track areas on my 072 and 081 Atlas O sectional track double main line. WS requires trackbed and I've been considering vinyl Flexxbed all along. So, Flexxbed will be glued down on homasote. But bending Flexxbed to form curves means it's under tension trying to straighten itself. Anyone have experience to know whether Flexxbed on top of the WS foam creates enough tension to warp/distort the foam curvatures? Thanks. Peter

My whole layout has the vinyl Flexxbed (originally called VinylBed) glued directly to the 3/4" thick plywood top. My Atlas O solid nickel silver track glued directly to the vinyl roadbed. I use TightBond Wood glue, and ONLY used a very few screws to to hold the vinyl roadbed in place, until the glued dried. I then took all the screws out, and reused them for the next roadbed laying operation. I did the same thing with the Atlas track, i.e. some screws used to hold the glued track in place, until the TightBond glue dried, then all the screws removed.

 

The vinyl roadbed is very easy to bend into curves, and STAYS PUT, using ONLY glue! 

Oh, sorry if my question wasn't clear.  I know how well glue works on WS foam and Flexxbed. But the WS blocks are foam.  So my question was - will the torque of the Flexxbed ( on a curve made from WS inclines ) trying to straighten itself (right away or over time) start warping the foam blocks?  Meaning, the foam would stay put at the glued base, but the top of the foam would be constantly under the stress of the Flexxbed trying to straighten itself. Maybe putting pins through the track, through the Flexxbed and into the WS foam helps?

I d
OK. Back on a normal sized computer. Thanks to all for the helpful and constructive inputs - which of course excludes "breezinup" as his entire commentary was about my computer snafus, not the topic. Lol. FYI - in case this is helpful to anyone else, I spoke to WS this afternoon and they said there should be no problem with 072 curves (or larger presumably). BUT they also said that, in cooler weather (my layout is in the cellar with some temperature fluctuation), vinyl will become less pliant and there would be more tension as it tries to regain a straighter posture. So thinking about using the WS foam trackbed, at least on the WS foam that will curve.
Originally Posted by PJB:
BUT they also said that, in cooler weather (my layout is in the cellar with some temperature fluctuation), vinyl will become less pliant and there would be more tension as it tries to regain a straighter posture. So thinking about using the WS foam trackbed, at least on the WS foam that will curve.

I disagree! That vinyl product is so flexible that, once properly glued down, it is there for ever.

Put enough of that TightBond Professional glue on, and you can glue a house together! 

 

My whole layout is put together with TightBond; the 1"X4" glued to 1"X4" for the legs (no screws), the 1"X2" glued to 1"X4" for the L Girder cross members (no screws), and the 3/4" thick plywood for the top. The layout is "free standing", i.e. NOT connected to the walls in anyway. If you bump into it someplace, you'll hurt yourself and the layout still doesn't move.

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