To use homosote or not

I prefer homasote, myself.  You could attach homasote directly to your plywood.  Use the blue foam for making hills and changing the landscape in different areas.  Homasote does a good job of holding the track screws in place.  I don't use the foam base as you have, so I don't know how well or not it would hold the track screws.  

My current layout is extruded pink foam over plywood with cork roadbed glued to the pink foam and Atlas O track screws to fasten Atlas O track and switches. No problems encountered with this setup. Also use pink foam to build up scenery and terrain.

MELGAR

I would say it depends on how humid your train room gets.  

If you live on the East Coast or are a Midwesterner, and plan on putting something up your layout in a basement, the amount of humidity in that area may be high enough to cause eventual warpage of homasote.   To minimize this warpage, you'll have to drive in a lot  of screws, which to me defeats the purpose of using the product in the first place. 

Also cutting this product is a pain as it throws up a lot of dust.  Try to make your cuts out of doors.  Additionally this product is very expensive - which is another factor in the overall equation.  

Homasote also sucks up the paint.  

Considering the weight, expense, and MESS, I'm not sure i would go that route again.  

For what it’s worth, I have a System, 5/8 plywood, 1/2 homasote, screwed to the plywood, painted a nice green color, (dark browns to), with 1/4 cork road bed under the Atlas/Ross Trackage. I use the Atlas screws and only attach the track to the homasote.  I have virtually no noise, no vibration, and I level the track for smooth operation. As far as humidity, my area has very little humidity, but during the summer, we use a dehumidifier. The basement has central heat and air and is a fun place to operate trains.  I am not a fan of the foam boards pink or blue. I am a true fan of the model trains with realistic sounds, whistles and bells. Homasote is a compressed paper board and is a bit messy, dusty, but very easy to clean up, and never wears out. If one uses a good jig saw with a fine tooth blade, it’s easy to cut.  Happy Railroading.  

 

homasote is a waste of time and money.  Had it on my first layout when I was a kid and didn't bother on my second.   If you use screws to hold down your track work you are defeating the purpose of the homesote anyway.  The sound gets transmitted through the screw.   You are better off using Woodland scenic foam road bed and if your layout legs are standing on a hard surface (wood flooring or concrete) use rubber/felt pads under the legs.

superwarp1 posted:

homasote is a waste of time and money.  Had it on my first layout when I was a kid and didn't bother on my second.   If you use screws to hold down your track work you are defeating the purpose of the homesote anyway.  The sound gets transmitted through the screw.   You are better off using Woodland scenic foam road bed and if your layout legs are standing on a hard surface (wood flooring or concrete) use rubber/felt pads under the legs.

I want to thank all of you for your replies. Most of you have missed one of my constraints. I am using Lionel Fastrack, so there is no additional road bed involved. The Fastrack will either be screwed down to the foam board, or to the homosote if that were to be added to the equation. 

Ed

My table tops are 5/8" MDF.  I used foam roadbed under the Fastrack.  There are several available.  I laid out the track, then used spray adhesive to glue the foam roadbed in place before re-laying the track, using #4 X 1" screws about every second section.  I have been happy with it- the noise is not significant, and nothing has warped or moved (3 years in a midwest basement.)  

My railroad is built with modules that are 3' x 6'. Each module is 40" high with 2"x4" legs, 1"x3" framing with a 3/8" plywood top. The top has a layer of 3/8" thick pink foam. I use MTH Real Trax, and it the 3/8" pink foam does a good job of reducing track noise.

The basic ground covering on my railroad is fine saw dust held in place with a mixture of water and white glue tinted with shades of green latex paint. Adhesion to the pink foam is good.

Well, I read all the opinions (of which there seem to be as many as flies on ....).  I built the benchwork for my layout in the years 1989 - 1990, using everything that i had lying around ranging from 1/4" ply (supported by 1x2 furring on 12" centers), to 1/2" ply, to 1x6 pine) all covered with Homabed (the least expensive per foot of what was available at the time) and sheet Homasote in the yard areas ($19.95 per 4x8 sheet). I cut it as needed with a knife (NOT a saw) leaving virtually NO dust. I painted it with latex paint that DIDN'T soak in. Yes, I nailed and screwed it down and it has yet to warp in almost 30 years! I live in the northeast with a somewhat damp basement and run a dehumidifier from April through October and have the central AC on from late June until mid September. Just one person's experience here.

Definitely for fasttrak I recommend homasote as you only screw into the homasote, not into the plywood at all. It would be much quieter, compressed cardboard, sturdy, reliable, won’t wear out. Good luck.

I'll throw in my approach as I recently was faced with the same questions/decisions as yourself and I too am using Lionel Fastrack. I ended up building my benchwork with 2x4s topped with 1/2" plywood and 1/2" homasote for the entire table surface.  For noise dampening, I did the following:

• Homasote is glued to the table top using a generous amount of white Elmer's glue (no nails to transfer sound)
• Painted homasote with brown latex paint to seal out humidity and give it a color foundation
• Fastrack "floats" on the homasote and is neither glued nor screwed to mitigate noise transmission

The layout has been running trains for about 18 months and I haven't had any issues with track moving or "walking."  Unfortunately by it's design with hollow plastic roadbed and hollow rails, Fastrack (and I imagine to a lesser extent due to solid rails, RealTrax) will never be as quiet as using something like Atlas or Scaletrax on cork or foam roadbed.

Here's a video of my layout without any locomotive sounds running:

I know some folks on the forum have used expanding foam to "fill in" the hollow underside of Fastrack to help prevent resonance. I haven't tried that approach but search the forums and you can probably find some information.

Use Homosote-works great, takes paint, cuts easy and holds screws.

ehkempf posted:

I have started the tables for my layout. The framing is 1x4 with 1/2” plywood top. I have covered the plywood with 1” blue foam board. I am using Lionel Fastrack. So I am looking for suggestions on whether I should screw the track down using the foam only, or should I go the extra step and cover the foam with homosote. I know that the homosote will hold the track screws better. Looking for pros and cons.

 Thanks,

Ed

I live in Florida where they don't know how to spell it or what it is.  Definitely works for me in quieting the layout.  Also, easy to cut, paint and textured to work with whatever you want to do.  You can only do it during the build and you will never say, I wish I did not do it.  Not too expensive as I even had 6 sheets shipped from Maryland to me through a Homasote distributor.  A must with noisy track in my opinion.

Several people here mention dust created from cutting homasote. If you are going to use a saw, only use a knife blade (no teeth). It cuts easily and there is almost ZERO DUST.

We are using 1/2” homasote and are very pleased.

I cut Homosote with a saw and the "dust" was a grayish fluff which I glued on to some twigs, spray painted it and made some nice trees.

ehkempf posted:

I want to thank all of you for your replies. Most of you have missed one of my constraints. I am using Lionel Fastrack, so there is no additional road bed involved. The Fastrack will either be screwed down to the foam board, or to the homosote if that were to be added to the equation. 

Ed

 Ed,

I used RealTrax on my layout.  My route was 3/4 plywood, homasote glued to the plywood, and then the RealTrax screwed to the homasote.  One other thing I did was add insulation in the "cone"/roadbed of the RealTrax.  I have a lot of my track screwed down and can honestly say there is not a whole lot of track noise.  Was it defeating the homasote?  Maybe... but it's pretty dang quiet so I'm not complaining.  *Note: My layout is not very large, so the homasote price wasn't a concern.

As mentioned above, if you do use homasote, definitely use a knife blade and not a blade with teeth (it is extremely messy).  

This is what I used (cut in half or thirds... I can't remember):



The other picture is a little blurry, but you can see where I put the air conditioner foam.

Ceiling tile works well, also. Easy to dig into and helps quiet the Fastrack. On my 16 X 20’ layout I have about six screws total in the Fastrack. It just works well with out them. 

I want to thank all that have replied. Many options and choices, I how need to decide the best option for me. I have already started using the foam board, but I might also glue homasote on top of that. For those of you who are interested  I have also included a jpeg of the design I have gone with, but as all things, they are always subject to change.

 

 

John H posted:

Ceiling tile works well, also. Easy to dig into and helps quiet the Fastrack. On my 16 X 20’ layout I have about six screws total in the Fastrack. It just works well with out them. 

What do you consider real upstate NY? I live in Parish, NY, the heart of snow country.

Ed

Menard's has Homosote. Last time I checked it was $13.00 for a 4x8 sheet.

I just used homosote custom cut for the track only.. (jig saw ad a table saw for straights)  Worked out for me  as far as sound and ease..... Ceiling tiles did not work for me the short screws did not hold in tight  I glued the precut homosote on 3/8 plywood..Daniel

Ed,

I'm in Genesee County, so really Western NY. Most of our politicians seem to think anything north of NYC as upstate.

John H posted:

Ed,

I'm in Genesee County, so really Western NY. Most of our politicians seem to think anything north of NYC as upstate.

I believe you are not that far from the Rochester area. Have you ever gone to Gargraves “The Train Doctor”. Mike and his brother Tom are great people and his prices are more than fair. They are located just a little west of Sodus Bay.

Ed

feet posted:

Menard's has Homosote. Last time I checked it was $13.00 for a 4x8 sheet.

How long ago was that. Where I live in central NY, the price ranges from $ 25.00 to $ 30.00. Another reason why I kinda ruled out it’s use. I would need about 14 sheets, gets expensive fast.

Ed

As i previously posted, i bought Homasote for $19.95 a sheet back in 1990 here in Upstate NY at a real lumber yard. Hence considering almost 30 years of inflation $25 - $30 a sheet doesn't seem that high in this age of $80 freight cars and $700  +++ locomotives.

Gardner, The Train Doctor is a great shop. I have been there and bought Gargraves for my bridges, along with other train items. Just tremendous people to deal with.

I could only find one place that would even order it; $45 in 2014 from a survivor lumber yard (remember those? I think this one survives on marine grade woods). I used foam and a rubbery foam adheasive from lock-tite rather than a hard glue to hold it. I only pin my track into the foam with screws after pulling the longer ones one day and noticing I could hear the tv when I began running again to test the new track positioning. Ceiling tile should work nice, takes paint, etc., but I hate the debris it leaves...But I also have likely dealt with it a little too often as a whole though. I'll spot a crumb or tuft of it ten feet away on a dirty carpet. Use a razor knife here too, not a saw. I've done some work with sound control outside of the hobby in building two sound studios and learned a lot from analysing ambient sounds and setting public address systems up to compensate for ambience. There isn't enough room to cover what I know and I'm no expert. The total of sound control will actually depend on your benchwork, skirts, scenery used, and everything else in the room as well. Some will rebound off the surfaces, some will transmit and come off the bottom etc. If that isn't enough, different frequencies are tackled differently too. I had this debate a while ago and simply dropped it, but here are some good links I began collecting before deciding I didn't want to bother since the builder was already past that point by then. Car audio sites would also have some good reading on soundproofing and frequency transmission. No affiliation or past buisness with these companies, but they covered things I've delt with... take a close look at the type of products offered after you read. If you have about $7,000 to throw at it; the Active Noise Cancellation units are really neat https://www.tmsoundproofing.co...proofing-basics.html https://www.tmsoundproofing.co...fing-principles.html https://www.soundproofingameri...oofing-a-restaurant/