As part of the Tumut branch line, my research has revealed that the line was of 'pioneer' construction where the rail was laid directly onto the ground. I'm already on to cork underlay and I also have a local product called Trackrite to try. Do any of you have any ideas how I could go about modelling this prototype realistically? My initial thoughts are to collect some appropriate soil, put it through a sieve to grade it and use a similar method to laying rock ballast. Looking at photos on line, the sleepers seem to be pretty much sunken into the ground at least on the sidings, and in the later years of the branch, there was at least parts of the line lightly ballasted. http://www.users.on.net/~pprewett/tumutbranchline/photographs.htm Thanks! Reidy
G`day Reidy, The soil would work but you must nuke it in the oven or the microwave to kill any bacteria that may be in it. I would lay card or corrugated card beside your track to bring the ground level up almost to sleeper height. Colour it dark earth or whatever you choose but do a base colour and then add your soil on top of the card. You will use a lot less soil this way. I have used this method on GCJ because I laid my track onto 8mm thick carpet underlay, therefore the track sits quite high, so I had to bring the ground level up. http://www.clickGormo
Before nuking any soil in the microwave I would wave a magnet over it in case there are any iron filings or the like in there. Pete.
Reidy they also used a Ash mix in places to bind the soil But you are right most of the line is laid directly in the ground I found a YouTube clip of the line a while ago have just been on and couldn't find it again you may have more luck But it shows the ground completely covering the sleepers. When you get to the stage of trying to secure a soil base I find using isopropanol Alcohol works really well to wet the base material, (mist it on with a misting spray bottle), this stops the glue mix displacing the material, when you put on the 50:50 glue mix with some detergent drops to break the surface tension, as the isopropanol evaporates it sucks the glue into the soil without it lifting and balling, then I give it another spray and again this helps the mix to penetrate through the material. Due to the finer partial size compared to Stone type ballast this is the easiest way I have found to secure
I would recommend using Das Clay or a similar product and squeeze/thumb this in between the sleepers. You will need to put down some PVA to adhere the clay to the cork underlay. Whilst still tacky, tap the surface with a fine wire brush to give it a stippled look. Although I haven't placed clay between the sleepers, the effect and ability to raise the ground profile is easily achieved. Cheers, Gary.
Very smart ideas. Loving this forum guys! I got a letter in the mail this morning. I should have bought a lottery ticket on the October long weekend because I won a prize in the AMRA raffle as well; a 41 Class from Austrains! Everything's coming up Reidy.
Reidy wrote: Great Score Reidy hopfully it's not the fantasy candy colour one but a green or Tuscan one will go well on the branch line although it's possible that no 41 got as far as Tumut would have blown up by then.
Rummaging through my garage full of 💩 last night. Came across a foam bedroll from a darker part of my career... the nasty thin things people also use yoga mats? Got me thinking, this could be used for road bed. Thoughts? Seems easy to cut and shape, should be easy to paint. Reidy
Toto wrote: Probably in the realms of 5mm. I noticed Gormo is using carpet underlay in a similar fashion.
Yes, and the underlay looks slightly thicker. Seems to be coping OK as well as initially I thought there may be deterioration issues with it. It's proven to be a good call by Gormo. Do you have enough of your roll matt to cover the whole baseboard or will you cut it into strips for placing under the track areas only ?
Toto wrote: Haven't got that far yet! The mat is about 2m long and 75cm wide and about $5 each, so it's good buying. Reckon if I use it I would cut the yard out as one piece and the rest as strips. Certainly got me think about the substrate now. Currently the plan is the base board, high density foam and then road bed on top of that. The foam will allow me to cut culverts easily etc and stack the levels up to build contours.
