Felt?

[captrees]

I am soon to be laying about 17 metres of track. Mindful of recent comments re the effectiveness of underlay, I am reluctant to go to the expense of cork or neoprene. I'm wondering if there are any cheaper alternatives.

I can buy 3mm felt for 60% cheaper than cork sheet. Has anyone tried felt? I'm thinking maybe its a possibility that it expands if wet. (ie when ballasting?) It shouldn't be much trouble to model the curves either.

[Bigmet]

Trialling it to determine what the pros and cons are is the only way forward, cannot recall anyone using felt as track underlay. It needs to be sealed or you will have fabric fibres getting into mechanisms.

Honest opinion, so cork is more money; but it is proven beyond doubt. (Neoprene works well, but you are in the hands of the factory for the quality of what is supplied; cork trees have doing it right unsupervised for millenia...)

[centenary]

10 meter rolls of OO scale cork trackbed are only 10 quid. I wanted to use DCC Concepts trackbed but no one had it in stock or had just one roll and didnt know they'd get more.

Personally, I wouldnt consider felt as it would be like running your locos on carpet. It would just turn your loco's running gear into fibre magnets and a whole heap of problems.

[Dad-1]

Not a thing I would try, simply soak up too much moisture, introduce fibres, and more
easily compressed so you won't get a good consistent level track bed.

I usually resist using any underlay, but that is influenced by using code 100 track for layouts
that get moved around a lot, exhibitions, fetes and such, The deeper track and thickish sleepers
lends itself to making a nice shoulder from just the ballast material. The deep well glued down
ballast also helps protect track from damage.

Where I have used cork is on code 75, so called fine scale track. The sleepers are very thin, only
depth for a light coat of fine ballast. So to get a ballast shoulder a form of underlay is really needed.
I have tried some card that was laying around, It was glued down with PVA painted on, but it still
puckered up from the moisture. As it was just my track building sample it survived, but I wouldn't
try again. I had previously wondered about good quality mounting board, but that would be as expensive
as cork, plus being too much aggravation to cut into narrow strips.

Think about how long the layout may be used. If it's a long term project what is another £20-£30 over
say a 10 year life ? And How Much was that sound loco !!

Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

Geoff, it's almost become a cliche in itself, but acquiring good quality mounting board at minimal/no cost is down to how good you are at scrounging. The boards that shopkeepers hang from there ceilings for special promotions etc. is either mounting board or foam cored board, both of which are excellent materials for modelling which usually end up in the skip.

[Peterm]

When I first saw the title, I thought, I haven't been felt for years.

[captrees]

10 meter rolls of OO scale cork trackbed are only 10 quid. I wanted to use DCC Concepts trackbed but no one had it in stock or had just one roll and didnt know they'd get more.

Actually nearer 15 quid here and available by post. My local stockist has short lengths at silly prices, and I figured it would be cheaper by the sheet, and felt by the sheet even cheaper. In a rare win for railway modellers, 10m lengths are cheaper than buying than buying sheet and cutting it yourself. Thank you Centenary.

Yes, Peterm, I thought of several titles, all of which might be open to suggestion. I never felt like using them, mind.