Cork

[crazypotter]

Hi all. Just in the process of laying down my track. My question regards cork underlay. I don't really want to cover the whole baseboard with the stuff, but is it a good idea to cut pieces a little wider than the track to create a higher ballast shoulder?. If I do this will the ballast using PVA stick ok to the cork?. What thickness of cork would be ok and the best adhesive to use?. Many thanks.

[b308]

Yes you can cut it as you wish
Yes the PVA will work (cork has similar properties to wood (it's bark))
Thickness is up to you, thin for branch lines, thicker for main lines is a general guide
PVA will glue it down as will any contact adhesive


Out of interest why are you using it?

[crazypotter]

Yes you can cut it as you wish
Yes the PVA will work (cork has similar properties to wood (it's bark))
Thickness is up to you, thin for branch lines, thicker for main lines is a general guide
PVA will glue it down as will any contact adhesive


Out of interest why are you using it?

Mainly to create a ballast shoulder and to suppress noise from the baseboard.

[Bufferstop]

Once you've saturated your ballast with PVA/water mixture you lose the noise reduction properties. If your board is acting as a sounding board/amplifier it needs some extra cross bracing, but the only way to avoid sound transmission is to glue, not pin, your track to some form of foam base (not the stuff the Peco and Hornby sell it eventually turns to dust). I've always got cork from these http://www.charlescantrill.com/, they know about the widths and thicknesses that we use and seem to be a fairly solid company. I know some people have used the sort of foam that goes under laminate floors as a track base, but you will definately have to cut that yourself.

[b308]

Bufferstop beat me to it! I suspected "noise reduction" would be one of the reasons and as he says it won't work if you are then ballasting your track using PVA/chippings. An alternative to more bracing is expanded polystyrene under the board but I think most of us just live with it!

[crazypotter]

Thanks for your replies. Plenty of food for thought. Might just ballast it and see what happens.

[Dad-1]

I hate Cork !!

There is always a 'But' ...........
If you use Peco track, code 75, or 100 you can get an adequate shoulder from the sleeper depth.
Obviously the same regarding any of the code 100 train-set tracks of Hornby, or Bachmann.

My 'But' is regarding SMP track and Marcway hand made points, perhaps also C+L track, but I've
never used that. The sleepers here are so thin that it's even difficult to get a good ballast cover
using material as small grain as sand. I'm currently trying to hide unsightly cork edge ridges and
get some ballast between sleepers on the new club layout where others have failed !!

I have no idea when or why the fallacy of needing cork began. It's another interface where things
can go awry, offers almost nothing, but consuming time and money for MOST applications.

I'm not a 'Super' modeller, don't work in 'EM', of 'P4', but have built several well liked layouts, even
winning a 'best in show' award so I can't be turning out total rubbish.

Geoff T.

[Phat Controller]

I'm with you Geoff.

This "monster" keeps raising its ugly head now and then, (which is why I've bumped it up) I can see no reason why you would use cork, as an underlay, if you are going to ballast it with PVA, hence nullifying its acoustic value. It's a waste of time effort and money, and has to be emphasised that it will not dampen anything acoustically.

I actually think running locos on bare board is a great sound, and pronounces the "roar" of said loco going over the tracks.

I suppose one could argue that they want a quieter running theme, and there is no argument from me about that - it's personal preference, and each to his own, however if modellers continue to ignore the fact that gluing cork to your baseboard will not eliminate the "sound", then they are wasting there time and money!

I am not prize winning modeller but I DO listen to advise and I DO make the mistakes, and learn by them!

[b308]

If you are modelling a modern image main line then it does have it's uses as it will raise the level of the track as per the prototype and is a relatively inexpensive way of doing it.