# Concrete / styropor balls mixture roadbed (with cola bottles...)



## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Here is a little resume of the way I made the trackbed for my garden railroad. I mentioned it in an other thread in *Gardening & Landscaping* forum but I thought it was good to mention it here separately also. I hope it is helpful.

 I wanted the trackbed to be firm and all weather proof but also lightweight (or at least not to heavy) and, when necessary, rather easy to remove.
The trackbed must also raise the railway somewhat above ground level.

I came up with an idea of a mixture of concrete and little styropor balls. The balls add volume and reduce weight. Also I placed little plastic bottles within the trackbed as sort of spacers or fillers as you will. 




 So first I place the bottles upside down in the ground (removed the caps).











I left about 1 inch of space between the bottles and the underside of the track. This space will be filled with concrete.












I than made a sort of formwork in the desired shape. I used some woodstrips I had laying around for it. This was not ideal and could not be re-used. I later used plastic / foam sheets for formwork. I the past I alsa used thin hardboard with good results.











Next step: making the concrete - styropor mix. I am not sure about the mixture but I guess it must be something about 1 part portland cement - 2 part sand - 2 parts styropor balls. (I mix more on feeling than on measurement I'm afraid).











Pouring the mixture in the formwork. 











At first I poured it all with the mixture but I noticed the balls are often visible. I eventually poured the mixture to just above the top of the bottles (or actually, the bottom of the bottles) and finished it with a thin layer (topping) of non-mixed concrete. This gave a smooth surface

The trackbed is all level and most of the trackbed is about 10 inch in height. Depending on the part of the landscape it sticks out of the ground the full 10 inch or less. 

On this picture you can see at the left how the sides of the trackbed looks after removing the formwork. The balls are visible. On places where the sides are visible in the landscape you can put rocks against it or add a layer of cement for a better look. While doing so you can choose to carve stonework in the wet cement to represent a stone wall (right on picture). 










Final results... ready for ballasting!


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

some good ideas and a fine result.
i like it.


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Thanks kormsen 

I started ballasting the tracks. The method I use is very common I guess. I use a dry mix of 1 part portland cement - 1 part sand - 3 parts gravel.

I used a similar mix on my former garden railway. Although I always thought that ballasting (and fixing) the track this way was a one time thing (rail fixed in place and not removable anymore). But when braking down that railway because of moving to another house I noticed the ballast applied in this way was actually reasonable easy to remove and (most, not all) the track could be salvaged and re-used. 

I assume this method is probably already be showed on this forum somewhere, but here are my pictures for those interested:


Gravel mix (no water! Add water after applying the ballast!)












Applying the dry ballast mix on the tracks and brushing it in place:































I than sprayed water on the ballast to apply water to the mix so it can harden and cure. Little corrections can be made in this stage easily. 























And the secret weapon; some help from the locals!


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

local help is always important.
keeps down the protests against new projects from the sheeple.
your method of balasting reminds me of mine, i use indoors.
(mix of sand and small stones, than spray with diluted white glue)

http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/21819/protocoling-a-mountain?page=7


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## choochoowilly (Oct 31, 2016)

*coke a cola*

You must be about coked out by now, really like you stone wall, very neat, a little too tedious for me, I'm sort of slam bam get it done but you will have a very talked about area on you layout with it. I just smoothed the concrete and liquid nailed real doll house 1" scale brick to it and mortared. keep pictures coming, Bill


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

looks very nice, thanks for sharing
Dennis


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Never been a big fan of cement road bed but your looks good. Down side is applying glued to hold down ballast should you ever need to do some track work. Later RJD


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Thanks for all your replies. 

Yes, cola being the favorite drink of my teenage son I had a steady supply of the bottles ;-)
Those little dollhouse bricks could also work between the tracks for a road crossing.


Impressive indoor layout kormsen!!
I noticed the link to your website. Just curious, are you located in US or Europe? 
LSC looks like a fun forum too. I see many known names from MLS also.


The concrete ballast is not very strong, just enough to keep it in place. It is rather easy to remove for trackwork. Indeed it will be fixed in placed afterwards, I guess I have to make a micro amount of the mixture when repairs are needed.


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

Paulus said:


> ...
> I noticed the link to your website. Just curious, are you located in US or Europe?
> LSC looks like a fun forum too. I see many known names from MLS also...


i'm in Paraguay, in the middle of Southamerica. (German by origin)

well, keep LSC earmarked. if or when here the light gets switched off, over there you'll have a place, where you won't be a total stranger.


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

kormsen said:


> i'm in Paraguay, in the middle of Southamerica. (German by origin)
> 
> well, keep LSC earmarked. if or when here the light gets switched off, over there you'll have a place, where you won't be a total stranger.



 Paraguay! That was unexpected ;-) Good to see model railroads all over the world. I'm from the Netherlands myself so I once was your western neighbor.



I sure do. Is it that bad on MLS these days? I noticed there is a lot less activity going on...


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

Paulus said:


> ...
> I sure do. Is it that bad on MLS these days? I noticed there is a lot less activity going on...


well, to be honest, the largescale hype in general seems to be cooling everywhere.
many formerly very active modelers are turned into lurkers by age, many youngsters prefer computergames to old fashioned "hands on" hobbies, avayable money gets scarcer too, people have less and smaller gardens and facebook and similar atract former fora participants.
so, we have to live with that.

and, in this less than optimal situation, this forum here is owned by a company that has hundreds of fora of different interests, with the main goal to earn money from advertising. 
so they made some decisions, that make sense moneywise, but are damaging to our theme. (deleted pics, specially)

so many from us (even from the forum-oldtimers) decide to direct their activities more to the fora, that still have admins, who themselves are interested in what we post.


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

I see. Hopefully the hobby gets a boost again in the future but perhaps it is some sort of Darwinism...


Yes I did noticed the increase of advertisements together with the decrease of activity compared to some years ago... 

It is an understandable decision than to switch from fora. I'm happy some are still responding over here at least  I just hang around and see how it goes. But it is good to know there is another great forum.


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