# Trex decking for elevated track



## Russell Rutalj (Dec 7, 2010)

My name is Russ, new member, from Sun Valley, California. I am building an elevated railroad in my back yard. It will be elevated 36", and the configration is an oval with about 160' of track. I will be useing Trex decking . My cornors and 90" and I need to use a heat source to do that. The boards need to be heated to 160 degrees. to bend. The mim. curve is is listed at15 feet. They use a form to hold it in place until it cools. I would like to know what heat source to use . The peices i have to bend are 12foot long. Dont know if more heat would make them bend more. Should i cut the board iin half or try to leave it in one piece. Thanks for you help Russ


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Can you identify the dimensions of the "boards" you are using and how you will use them? Possibly a drawing? 

Normally people use a "ladder" type of support that needs no heat to bend. 

Above all, remember that rule of thumb is you need to support synthetic wood twice as often as the same size wood lumber. 

Regards, Greg


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

It would need to be done in a BIG HOT cabinet.

Your best bet would be to find a local shop that does powder coating. Powder coating uses an electrostatic charge to make powdered "paint" stick to metal. Heat is then added to get the powder to" melt." 
Some of these shops have BIG cabinets to handle car frames. You'd need to discuss the feasibility of doing it with the owner/operator.

An automotive paint shop may also have a "hot booth" to speed drying, but I doubt that they go to 160 degrees. But you could check on that too.


BTW, Trex has recently become one of my favorite building materials. This stuff is extremely versatile if you use your imagination.


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## hawkeye2 (Jan 6, 2008)

I am going to make an assumption here and it is this: You are using the Trex standing on edge from post to post and parallel to the tracks to support the roadbed/track. I believe Trex is formed of plastic and sawdust with heat under pressure in an extrusion process. a skin is formed on the outside which seals it from moisture. When the skin is broken the sawdust absorbs moisture and the product begins to crumble. The outside of the curves would be placed in tension and this could cause "stress cracks" in the skin allowing moisture to enter and I wonder if the plastic and swdust might not pull apart over time from the stresses. If you meant edge bending a plank with no damage I believe it would be nearly impossible to do no matter how much heat you put into it.
Why not follow prototype bridge pratice? Run the stringers straight from post to post with the track laid in a curve on the roadbed. Your supporting structure would form a polygon and this might require shorter spans and more supporting posts but may be much simpler though less elegant than bending the stringers. You could lay Trex on the stringers and at right angles to them. If these boards were left long the inside and outside edges could be cut to a curve as a last step.
As a final thought: There are better synthetic decking products than Trex avaliable. My brother is a carpenter, we were discussing decking a number of weeks ago and he named some but I don't remember any of the product manes.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have used Trex outdoors, and also have pieces that were ripped from 2x4's in a keystone shape, embedded in concrete to hold track. While the surface gets a little rough looking, cutting away the "skin" does not compromise the entire board. 

It's been down in the sun unprotected for a number of years. 

Remember that the board is mostly plastic, with "crumbs" of sawdust basically encapsulated with the plastic. So, from direct experience, don't worry about "breaking the skin" causing the entire thing to disintegrate. 

I also bought the "way better" stuff, which is a lot heavier, solid, etc, about double the price, but I believe overkill if you are making a ladder system. 

At this point, we need you to come back and clarify just exactly what you are doing. 

Regards, Greg


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi folks,

Please see my post regarding this subject in Public Forum. Russ is an old friend and new to this forum stuff. He just called me this morning and when he gets home from church, he wants to thank everyone for their help. He has taken to this large scale railroading like a "duck to water". His wife says he is "lost now". He. He.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By hawkeye2 on 20 Feb 2011 09:53 AM 
I am going to make an assumption here and it is this: You are using the Trex standing on edge from post to post and parallel to the tracks to support the roadbed/track. I believe Trex is formed of plastic and sawdust with heat under pressure in an extrusion process. a skin is formed on the outside which seals it from moisture. When the skin is broken the sawdust absorbs moisture and the product begins to crumble.



I can't even detect any "sawdust" in my stuff. It's like a "waxy plastic" thoughout.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

If you buy the brand name Trex, and cut into it, you can definitely see the pieces of wood, and it looks about the size of coarse sawdust in my opinion. 

Here is the keystone-shaped piece of Trex embedded in the concrete roadbed, sorry the detail is not higher:










Regards, Greg


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## fsfazekas (Feb 19, 2008)

OOOooo Gary, I'd never seen your roadbed before...neat enhancement to "Plain-Old-Concrete-Road-Bed" (POCRB)  

Good luck to Russ getting his issue resolved...I'll probably be using a synthetic material in a ladder system someday so I like to see what everyone is experiencing.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

The stuff I'm using is 5-1/2" by 1-1/2" and all of the walls are 1/4" thick. I purchased the board many years ago and it underlies my trestle under the concrete lake. The "piers" were first "glued" to the Trex (and it was under the Trex Brand name IIRC) and this keeps them all level. The Trex was then burried just under the sand and concrete applied. The piers have never shifted.


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## Russell Rutalj (Dec 7, 2010)

I wish to thank everyone for there input and patience. Learning to build a railroad, im finding, is both exciting and challenging. Im new at the whole process so please bear with me. Russ


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## Russell Rutalj (Dec 7, 2010)

Im am writing this to thank everyone for there input and patience regurading trex deck. I am finding building a railroad challenging and exciting. I guess were all kids at heart. Russ


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Russ et al 

TREX is a specific brand of composite decking. It was one of the first in the market. there are now probably more than a dozen different "composite decking" products and many are quite different than the original Trex. I have used about 5600 running feet of 5/4 x 6 Trex on my elevated layout and can speak to its longevity [at least in Northern VA]. Trex is a composite of resin and shredded grocery bag material. It has very little structural strength and as a deck material needs to be supported every 16 to 24 inches depending on the load. It will eventually sag under its own weight if the spacing is much over 20 inches [I learned the hard way]. You can take the surface off with no ill effect. Regular Trex has a crown in the center to shed water and I have used a surface plane to make most of mine completely flat. If it is not cleaned occasionally it will get "green things" growing on it. It does not like high pressure power washing since it is not a hard material. My Trex deck has been in use for about 11 years. 

I have never tried to use it as an edge material, but you are correct that it will break if you try to put too much bend in it. Unless you are getting it for a bargain price, there are much better products for this application. I have only seen it used on one layout in this way, and the builder used short straight sections rather than attempt to get a smooth curve on the edge. 

Best of luck with your project.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Shopping bags, hummm. That's why I don't get sawdust. Mine is smooth on 3 sides and "grained" on the 4th. In my prior pic, you can see where I've sanded the crown.


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