Wood Grade Crossings?

Small pieces of 5/32" luan board and a scribe tool. Cut and sanded to fit, glued in place.




Roundhouse area access road.

Road base.

Paul:  I've used plain popcycle sticks (washed of course) with the round ends cut off and then stained.  they look pretty good for a number of crossings.  I have also used left over wooden Gargraves ties, but they tend to be a bit too thick.  I've had to sand them down, a bit, on the grooved side, drilled small pilot holes and held them down with black paneling nails.  you do have to be a bit careful because our flanges are much thicker than prototype so you can never get the tight grooves that the real tracks portray.  (Doesn't matter, though.  You're not going to be actually driving your 1/43 cars over these intersections.)

Paul Fischer

I used a piece of 3/4" pine board and ripped it to 3/16" on my table saw and traced the curve onto the wood and cut with a coping saw. After that I used a black ink pen to draw the features to imitate boards. Then smeared brown paint and wiped away as it was still wet to give a worn creosote look.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Started this one yesterday although it is 2 rail. This crossing depicts many rural crossings in Mississippi during the 50's through the 70's. The road will be gravel. I will also add some recessed bolt heads.

Malcolm

Woodland Scenics

N gauge roadbed is another option -- either foam or cork painted railroad tie brown will work.  Use fine point black marker and straight edge to simulate separate planks.

Poppyl 

A good way to get an accurate fit for a curved crossing is to blacken the rails with pencil, and lightly press the wood on the rail. The graphite will transfer to the wood. Then cut leaving the pencil mark. Then sanding can be done for the final fit. This also works great for locating where to cut out outlet boxes in walls and ceilings on the back of sheetrock.