# Indoor roadbed



## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

Curious for those that have indoor layouts, what do you use for roadbed? In my HO days I used N scale cork, gave a better profile after ballasting. I'm thinking of using O scale cork. Thoughts?


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

ewarhol said:


> Curious for those that have indoor layouts, what do you use for roadbed? In my HO days I used N scale cork, gave a better profile after ballasting. I'm thinking of using O scale cork. Thoughts?


 It's whatever makes you happy (really).

I am not a craftsman so I simply use green outdoor carpeting under my track.








When I started the garage layout I used chicken grit under the track.








When I got to the lower level I went back to green outdoor carpeting.








When I built the O gauge layout I used green outdoor carpeting. This was laid on top of sound board because of the noise from the trains on the track.








My indoor layouts have the advantage of being able to turn the layouts dark where lights change the appearance of everything.








It was simple relatively inexpensive and it's good enough for me but then I don't know anyone else who uses it.

Probably a big part of what determines the outcome is how much space is available for the layout and how permanent it is. 

I have not seen many indoor Large Scale layouts so I do not know what is typical.

For what it is worth, in the old days it was not uncommon for track to be placed right on the dirt. Even today it is not that uncommon to find tracks on some small short lines that do not have ballast. I believe the Trans-Continental Railroad was mainly on the ground and then later, when time and money became available, they ballasted and improved the surface.

My original plan was to lay the track on the outdoor carpeting and then sprinkle ballast (chicken grit) on top of the track and carpeting. I never bothered to do it.

Have fun,

Jerry


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## MyMiniatureWorlds (May 3, 2015)

Sorry for an off-topic answer but I need to say that I love the last photo. Looks nice


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

MyMiniatureWorlds said:


> Sorry for an off-topic answer but I need to say that I love the last photo. Looks nice


Thanks,

It is sort of like having Christmas year round. 

I ended up staying with the lighted Porcelain houses for the O Gauge layout.

With the Large Scale I started with bird houses, as they fell apart I went with plastic and now as the plastic has been falling apart I just discard the broken ones.








​
I would be embarrassed to show how this looks today but then I am now about 20 years older.

Jerry


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

I use the Flexxbed vinyl product. 

My benchwork is a sort of modified L-girder and the base of the roadbed is laminated Masonite hardboard splines with the Flexxbed glued to it with vinyl coving adhesive. The SVRR track is then nailed through the nailing holes just enough to secure it. There will be ballast of some kind eventually once I start doing scenery. 

I'm kind of ambivalent about Flexxbed. It works okay, but I guess that I was expecting it to be quieter considering the density of the splines and the minimal "coupling" of the track through the Flexxbed. It was also a bit difficult to smoothly bend on the 8' diameter curves and to hold in place until the adhesive set; needed a lot of clamps and weights.

Here is the spline method that I followed.

I decided to stay away from cork as, when I used to do HO in my younger days, it would tend to dry out and get a bit crumbly. I used Atlas back then, perhaps the binders that held it together have since improved.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

MyMiniatureWorlds said:


> Sorry for an off-topic answer but I need to say that I love the last photo. Looks nice


Very nice video. I did not recognize any of the trains. Can you tell me what the train at 1:53 is? It looks British to me but I have no idea what brand or anything about it.

Thanks,

Jerry


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

either nothing under the track, but coarse filter sand between sleepers as ballast, or half-inch styropor stripes under the track.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

My Innie has track screwed straight into the plywood. On the previous incarnation I had a 1/4" cork bed under it. As my trains are short and slow I found ZERO appreciable difference between cork and no cork. I got more noise from the metal wheels on rails than by any drumming effect. My current layout will eventually have 75% of the track imbedded in pavement or similar covering typical of a shoreline wharf. I may spray self adhesive expanding foam to the undersides once it's closer to being finished.


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## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

vsmith said:


> My Innie has track screwed straight into the plywood. On the previous incarnation I had a 1/4" cork bed under it.


This has me thinking. Why not use 1/4" plywood for the roadbed. I can buy a 4x8 sheet at a local big box store for $20. Most O scale cork seems to be 2 5/8" x 3'. A box of 25 (75' total) is around $38.

With the plywood (for easy math) I would cut pieces 3" wide and 4' long. This would give me a total of 32 pieces at 3" x 4'. That would be 128 feet worth of roadbed. Seems like a better value to me.

Use the roadbed for mainline and sidings. Spurs and yard would not be on roadbed, would put them right on the table top. Do some sanding to transition from roadbed to tabletop.

Might have to build a test section with scenery to see how it looks


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Depending on the size of the layout and the size/configuration of the room (closed or open doors etc.), noise *might* be a factor.

Outdoors I have never noticed much about the sound of the trains on track but indoors - depending on the wheels used - sometimes noise might be a factor. Some metal wheels can be very loud as they roll on the track in an enclosed area. 

One layout is on masonite pegboard on steel shelving suspended from the walls & ceiling.








When I run with sound and LGB wheels I hardly hear the wheels on the rails but when I run MTH or Aristo-Craft passenger cars with MTH or Aristo metal wheels, the noise is much more noticeable.

In my case the sound/noise is good because with my eyes closed I can still keep track of where the train is on the track.

Sound board might be an option if noise is a factor.

If you want a roadbed with ballast you might spray glue (like 3M Super 77) to the surface and brush chicken grit over the glue (after the track is down - so the track is laying on a flat solid surface).


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## johnron2 (Jan 31, 2011)

ewarhol said:


> Curious for those that have indoor layouts, what do you use for roadbed? In my HO days I used N scale cork, gave a better profile after ballasting. I'm thinking of using O scale cork. Thoughts?


I use sound deadening board, and lay the ties directly on a large sheet of it, i also used N scale cork roadbed in 
HO. I am modeling two foot gauge in 16 mm scale. At this large scale O gauge roadbed is only about 5 inches high. This is not enough to simulate main line standard gauge and for my prototype 2 foot gauge the Bridgton and Saco River there was no significant roadbed. I think sometimes fills are confused with roadbed. 

My ties are 1/.4 inch thick so i do not need the roadbed to hold spikes. This is an issue since I handlay my track with code 172 rail. if one uses prefab track this is not an issue.


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