Track roadbed question

I used the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed for both of my layouts. great stuff.

I use vinylbed...Greg

 

Homasote and cork on our layout, same on my switching layout. Ceiling layout got the WS foam bed and I dont like it. It buckles in the curves and edges dont stay flat.

Hi Doug - This is what I do on my layout. 

   Click photo to englarge

 

Trainroom gary, is your cork directly on the plywood?  How is the sound?

 

Thanks. Doug 

 

For my next project I am planning on using foam board for the base I will likely screw gargraves right to the foam board using drywall anchors. 

Just beginning to replace a thin layer of cork with Woodland Scenics foam.  No issues with buckling here, although minimum curves are 072 and I separate the pre-scored halves.  The curves are also being super- elevated using the surplus cork.  I have a bare minimum of screws securing the track and roadbed and will remove those once ballast is laid.  There's a noticeable reduction in noise...still, not as much as I'd prefer.

 

Bruce

I bought WS for my last layout. It wouldn't stay in place, buckled, and the sound dampening was not really noticeable. I'm currently using plywood+homasote in my current construction and very happy with it thus far and the sound is much much less. I'm considering cork for a roadbed appearance.

Hi Doug,

 

I'm also starting to redo my layout, I will use foam board and mount Gargraves track right to the

foam board

 

Alex

I actually tested several combinations to determine what was most quiet.  Different track types (Atlas O, MTH Scaletrax, GarGraves and Ross), no roadbed and on homasote.  Different track types on different roadbed materials (cork, Woodland Scenics foam and Flexxbed Vinyl) on plywood.  And other combos. I found it quietest to use Atlas O on vinyl roadbed on homasote.  

 

Peter 

Homasote seems to work the best if you need track screws or nails to hold track in place. If snap track and it stays in place have found that carpet, tile, wood underlay the foam or rubber actually works really well to noise deadening.

To Doug • The cork is on the plywood. No extra sounds, but I am old school, I like the sounds from tubular track. I started this layout before all the modern on board sounds & speakers. No homosote. 

Hope this helps.

Good Luck

Thanks everyone.  I appreciate your input.

 

Doug

Hi Doug. I hope you are enjoying your new home. The weather up here misses you.

 

My old layout was vinyl bed over homasote. My new layout is cork over homasote. All the yards are just track over homasote. I am sure you will be fine with just homasote. Good luck.

I am old school too. Cork on plywood..................PAUL

If you use tubular track, Johnson rubber roadbed is the best for sound restriction qualities.

Hey Don I don't miss the weather up there, but I do miss going to Trainstock, York, the Big E the many train shows and, of course, all my train friends.

 

Doug

I used this on my layout also.  I found it much easier to work with than cork, and I highly recommend it.

 

Jeff Davis

Our whole layout is Atlas O track & switches glued to Vinylbed, which was glued directly to the 3/4" plywood. The Vinylbed was extremely easy to work with, and came in two different thicknesses, i.e. 3/8" thick for the main lines and 1/4" thick for sidings & yard track. Once ballasted and glued with diluted Matt Medium, it would up nice and quiet too.

I am building a new layout and I started with 2 inch pink foam board glued to 3/8" plywood.  The road bed is ceiling tiles that I cut at a slight angle that I glued in place and I plan on gluing ballast to it and that should keep it all in place.

 

 

Paul

I've always used cork on sound board, and as far as the noise dampening effect goes I'm quite satisfied.

 

When I took up my last layout I found the cork had hardened and was brittle.  I didn't think that it was suitable for a new track design.  So, it got tossed.

 

So, I wonder if the WS vinyl roadbed would maintain its suppleness, and be able to be used on a possible future layout.  Does it maintain its supple qualities?

 

Alan

I use 1/2" thick black foam sheets I got from a grocery store in produce. I cut the foam 1/2" wider than the Fastrack  or Realtrax on both sides. I use foam glue to glue the foam to the green felt on the plywood and again use the foam glue to glue the bottom edges of the Fastrack to the top of the foam centered with the 1/2" overhang on both sides. I have all O-31 or O-36 curves & no problems but a great reduction in noise. Love it, works great for me!

In the past, I used cork over homasote, and thought it was good.  More recently, I put FasTrack right on blue foam for a temporary place to run some trains, and lightweight to move.  Even with the sound setting in my PS2 engines set at about 50%, I didn't notice track noise.  However Post War trains were noisy.  I can't get homasote or sound board locally, so I am undecided, but don't have to make a decision of what to put on a permanent layout once I start.

I don't build up a roadbed. But as a base, I'm not all that impressed with the noise suppression of foam sheets on plywood (choose green).

I do remember homasote being quieter, but messy. Like the old "horse hair" seat cushions of VWs, Mercedes, etc. As it ages, and produces a dirty feeling dust.

 If you've been happy with the homasote Id stick with it.

On one layout, Grandpa used some layers of old semi-truck inner-tubes (3+) and dowels under PW ties to keep track from shifting. That was very quiet. 

Thanks for all of the great ideas.  Still deciding.

 

Doug

Doug;

One thing not often mentioned.

Cars like Reefers and Boxcars and loaded or covered hoppers act like speaker cones for the noise.

Put a block of pillow foam or some such in them and the noise level will drop quite a bit. The walls of the cars resonate to act like speakers. Foam stuffed in there will damp them out.

 

Track wise I'm putting WS foam roadbed under my Scaletrax on the new layout. The old one was Realtrax and had carpet under some of it. The rest had Sound board under it. that was less cost at the local Lumberyard than Homosote and damped more sound.

I'll be doing all these things to damp rail noise and make the sound fade better as the train moves away.

The Den / Christmas layout is still Realtrax and I lay green felt (farmland) or Quilt batting (Christmas snow) under it. This reduces the noise some but not enough for the main layout due to much increased size and therefor more speed on the main layout.