[Lji1221]

New Layout, in the process of the making. Sub-Roadbed is 5'x10' half inch sanded plywood over a 1x4" 'T' grid work. My plan is to use 'Tru-Scale' wooden track roadbed (code100). Present thinking is at least one large loop around an open area in the center of table, where i'd like to construct a small rural town. The Tru-Scale roadbed is right at 7/16" tall from base to top of rails.

My question is do folks think I need to raise the Tru-Scale some, add additional roadbed, to bring the track up higher to allow for
city curbs, small creeks and the like.

Presently I don't plan to add ballast to the roadbed, as the Tru-Scale has a gray texture, and rounded edges already. If I add additional roadbed, i'd need to figure out how to 'blend' it into the Tru-Scale roadbed which sounds like more work than it's worth.

 

[Lemonhawk]

My first layout (late 50's) used TrueScale wooden roadbed. It had the ties on the roadbed and you just spiked down code 100 rail. Is this what your talking about? I now use milled Homasote from Cascade (https://cascaderailsupply.com/pages/frontpage) and plastic ties from Central Valley (http://www.cvmw.com/) and use caulking to glue the Homasote down and caulking to glue the ties to the roadbed. The code 83 rail is them glued to the ties with Pliobond contact cement. Much easier and you can make easements into and out of curves. No spikes are used except to hold turnouts down. In the interim I used flextrack - I like the CV ties best, but 2nd place goes to TrueScale!

 

[65446]

>>> Constructive Criticism <<<

True Scale: the grain in the cross ties runs the wrong way. Unless you plan to add ballast to it's shoulders, it will be the wrong color (light wood) unless you paint it gray-blue first.. Don't worry about its height. Not sure how easy/hard it is to find certain switch (turnout) and crossing panels if you want to expand later. This stuff goes way back to the 1950s
Code 100 rail: too tall to represent the tallest real RR rail (about 9 inches). 100 scales out to something like 12-14" and so has an unrealistic profile..
If at all feasible I believe you may be better off using Atlas and/or Peco panel and flex code 83 or lower height track, top of cork/foam roadbed. You could skip roadbed altogether and glue/spike/nail it directly on the ply and sprinkle/white-glued ballast in and around ties depicting a rural, slow moving branch or short line...
Finally: unless you will be able to walk around 3-4 edges of the layout and have no pop-up hole/s in middle, it's going to be very very tough and frustrating to reaching across near 5' to reach a stalled/derailed train in back or add/remove structures/do wiring.
If you are not concerned with any of this then do it and have fun. The MRR police will not come and put you in cuffs....

 

[Lji1221]

The Tru-Scale is indeed the old school wooden roadbed, with wooden ties. Mine has the rails spiked at every other tie. I've attached a photo of the track, an the temporary layout. I do have access to 3 sides so I'm not too worried about maintenance, at least until everything is up and running. I realize there are a LOT of options out there nowadays, that make the use of 1950's parts a bit more difficult, but i'm willing to give the 'old school' approach a try.

I don't have as many straights of the Tru-Scale as i'd like, so i was thinking of fashioning some using Homasote and plastic tie pieces. The Cascade reference may come in handy for this purpose. Thanks.

 

[Lji1221]

Just an FYI, I take criticism well, so no worries about that. I see what you mean about the grain of the ties. Didn't see that right off. I have a handful of turnouts, as well as a few cross-overs. I was planning to use some Atlas Remote Switch machines to work the cross-overs. I think I can mount them close enough to bend the wire to engage the mechanism. As I mentioned in my quick post, I do have access to 3 sides of the layout.

 

[Cab1]

Hey, you know, that track looks pretty good to me. Once it's weathered a little more and ballasted (for my tastes cinders) it will look real good.

 

[Lemonhawk]

Yep, that's what I used! I even probably used that same tie stain! Its quick, but limited in making curves. Still, if you have it, it's easy to use! The milled Homasote from Cascade comes in stripes like cork, so you can easily make custom curves.