# "Sandwich board" (foam core) for track underlayment?



## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

I may--just maybe--after two years, get to put up my first module soon. It will be open gridwork. The trackway will be luan supported by ripped furring strips. On top of this, I'm considering 'sandwich board' --some call it foam core, that runs about 3/16" thick. You get it from art shops. I want it for sound deadener. I can get it free by astute dumpster-diving. I will be running light stuff, 2 axle cars and 0-4-0's. Has anyone tried this stuff for this purpose?

I am willing to consider any other material that will deaden sound, so long as it's cheap.

Thanks,
Les


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: "Sandwich board" (foam core) for track underlayment?*

It just _might_ work, I have used foamcore for years in model building, it will take the weight OK, it does have some issues like painting one side can cause bowing of the other, but if its solidly glued down it should work. I would only be concerned about glueing down ballast causing the paper backing of the foamcore to come apart, but I think it should work. Try a mock up sample section about 12" long (use a crap Bmann track section) with the foamcore base on the same base material you plan to use, glue the foamcore down and attach the track exactly the way you plan to do the layout, then add the ballast and glue it down the same way you plan to do on the big layout and see what happens, I think it should work OK. Carl Arendts website has several micro layouts who's bases are entirely built of foamcore so it can take scenery as well.


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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

Les,

I use carpet "underpadding" on mine. I got a huge roll of the stuff to do the whole layout, but typically carpet stores (the ones that install the stuff) have scraps and remnants they'll sell you very cheaply. It deadens the noise quite well; it's possible to run a whole train with nearly no "rumble" from the benchwork-- the only noise is the wheels on the rail.










I should point out that there's no structural quality to the stuff -- it's very like carpet itself. You'd need to put something like the OSB I've got under mine, or some other kind of support subroadbed underneath.... but then depending on the foamcore, you were probably going to put something stronger under that too, right?

Matthew (OV)


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Thanks for the tip.

I'll have FW go to one of the carpet outlet stores and see if they've got any. I'd much rather save my foamcore stuff for buildings, etc, but by the nature of things, track goes down first. I don't need much; my first module is only 8' x 36". Kinda an overgrown shelf layout.

I just realized I have this post stuck in the wrong forum. Oh well, not my worst-ever misteak.


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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: "Sandwich board" (foam core) for track underlayment?*

I had heard several cautions when I built mine about not securing the track THROUGH the pad to the wooden benchwork as it would defeat the purpose... but I've found it actually works pretty well with the track screwed to the benchwork through the pad; the trick is NOT to pull the track down tight, but just to secure it in place, without crunching the pad down tight. This way the majority of the vibration is transferred to the pad, and because the connection (on Llagas track, anyway) isn't particularly solid mechanically speaking (it's just the little loop on the tie) there isn't a lot to vibrate the benchwork. 

Probably way too much information; nutshell, just don't screw it down tight, and it should work. Also, I started out spray-gluing the pad down to the wood -- I discovered later that with the track affixed this really wasn't necessary except in places like the yard where the whole deck is covered instead of just the section below the track. Finally, there's two thicknesses of pad ... for me they work about the same. 

Good luck... 

Matthew (OV)


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Matthew,

Thanks for the reply. As it turns out, yesterday afternoon I scored big time on 6-8 sheets ~ 1/4" foamcore, abt 48" x 16".

They have words printed into/onto both sides, but hey, those trains can't read.







So foamcore it will be.

As for nails causing noise feedthru, I figured that what litte did get through, I could live with. All my stuff will be small and light, so I don't see a problem. Carpet foam would have been my other choice. 

Soon ... soon ... I can start on the benchwork: I'll have the last of my winter's wood split and stacked, I have just barely enough $$ for incidentals after a long-delayed plumbing repair/modification that set me back $1200.







so I believes I can actually have a module up by July End. Lord willing.

The first thing I'm going to build is an engine house w. pits (in the floor), .808 scale trackage (S ga) to service it, and of course a steam power plant.

As an aside, the 18" ga tramline has really captured my imagination. (Wait'll reality strikes.)
Les


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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: "Sandwich board" (foam core) for track underlayment?*

What kind of a layout is this, Les? Is it all 18" gauge stuff, or is there some 45mm track involved too? What kind of motive power/rolling stock are you planning? 

Matthew (OV)


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By SlateCreek on 06/17/2009 2:58 PM
What kind of a layout is this, Les? Is it all 18" gauge stuff, or is there some 45mm track involved too? What kind of motive power/rolling stock are you planning? 

Matthew (OV)








I started with the idea of a 45mm NG SL backwoods ca 1875, low-budget (_that's prototypical) _and the more I learned here on the board, the more the ideas I've always wanted came to be explained by others--that is, how to attain them. So, there will be a 45mm track w. an O ga (Fn24?) dual track & switches, and lastly, an Fn18" line. All this will be in 1:20.3, or 'F' scale. The learning curve has been and will continue to be steep. That's fine. The RR will be PP, as I don't particularly like trains running in circles. I like switching operations. With three gauges, I believe there'll be plenty of that. Also, each 'scene', or 'area' will be controlled at it's own location, with blocks to isolate. I'll use track power, it's simple and cheap.

The layout will be small: 36"W x approx 32'L, in a 'U' shape. Open framework bench, so I can get below grade for landscaping. Grade Zero is defined as the top surface of the board. It will be divided into at least three, and possibly five modules as I work it around the room.

Since I'm unwilling to pay the price for the brass track, I've elected to use 'strap iron' rail, which is actually flattened copper wire, 12ga. It looks fairly prototypical, save for the color. It will go on top of wooden rails.

The main locations will be the RR service yard, at the head of the 'U', a logging industry, and up the far side of the 'U' a large lead mine, since the RR is based in the St. Francois Mtns of MO, where I grew up. The latest equipment will be ca 1890, no later. 
There will be no passenger trains. The Pig River Ry will connect with the real (in that time) Iron Mountain RR, also called the St. Louis and Cape Girardeau at various times. Oddly enough, it was a NG line, insofar as my sketchy data shows. The morning PRRy outbound will disappear behind a mountain and end up in a long box, to be re-arranged via Skyhook 5 and sent back in the afternoon with 'out of town' deliveries to the mine, logging outfit, and RR. Outbound products are mainly lumber, lead ore, and misc farm produce. Possibly a rock quarry, but I've got a ways to go before I'll know if there's enough room.

The attractive feature of the little 18" tramline is that I envision it weaving over, under and across the 'mainline', serving the various sites with coal, cordwood and rapid-delivery parts. The coal will feed the boilers at the sites, as there is no electricity. I want to work a 'gantlet' in there somehow, but haven't thought that through. The mine will be entirely Fn18, the logging operation will be Fn2.

The rolling stock will be almost all two-axle cars. Such MOW things as a crane, a fire car, might get trucks. The engines will be 0-4-0's, and possibly, for the tramline, an 0-6-0. Articulated 0-4-4-0's will eventually appear. The mine will use pneumatic engines. Much will be very early models, as they fascinate me. All will be scratchbuilt. Critters will abound.

I chose F scale because it was the largest of the 'main' LS scales. My eyesight is not what it once was, and my fingers are not so adept anymore.

I think I've got it fairly well thought through. By using small engines, I can use small toy transformers. The lighting will be powered on separate circuits. Train lighting will be minimal. I want as much trackside animation as I can devise.

Someday I want to add a trolley/lightrail line, but that's far and away in the future.

Aren't you glad you asked? 

Les


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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

*RE: "Sandwich board" (foam core) for track underlayment?*

Aren't you glad you asked? 


Yeah, actually!  Sounds like a lot of interesting railroading in a small space. 

Interesting about the strap iron rails, particularly with track power. I will be interested to see how that goes. 

Matthew (OV)


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