Basic Scenery questions and Road Crossings


F

f1_indy2000

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I'm getting ready to start doing scenery on my layout and was thinking ahead and got curious of what to use for my crossings. Will Balsawood work or is there something else that would be better to use? Should I make the road first and then focus on the crossing(s)? Now I know the ballast job will be a big job, so do I do my ground areas first and then ballast or do the ballast first and then ground? I would think the earth was there before the tracks. This is going to be fun making the world in HOscale. Thanks
 
Hi Indy,
For your crossing, a lot depends on where they are located and what era you are modeling. I model the 1950's and use RR ties between the tracks and bring the road material up to a few of these same ties on the outside of rails. Just buy a bag of them that are used for handlaying track. It takes time, but looks good after you stain and weather them.

I put down my ground cover first and then ballast. I made the mistake of doing the opposite and had a time keeping the ground cover from getting into the roadbed/ballast.:)
 
My road crossing are all concrete except one in the yard, which I used ties for as Rex describes. If your roads are going to be asphalt or concrete, I'd use sheet styrene and cut it so it butts up against the outside rails and give it some flange way clearance on the inside rails. .050 thick sheet styrene is about perfect for code 100 rail but you can build up several layers of thinner styrene until you get the height you need.

I've done the ballast/ground cover sequence both ways and there's something to be said for each technique. If you do the ground cover first, you get a nice, clean ballast line. If you do the ballast first, some of the ground cover gets onto the ballast edges. For heavy duty mainlines in the northeast, a clean ballast line looks best. Down here in the South, the railroads spend all summer fighting Kudzu and other assorted weeds that are always attacking the right of way. It's rare to see even mainline track that doesn't have some growth around the edges and sometimes a lot more than that.
 
I guess i need to do some research. My model is going to be the 1970's Midwest. I'm going to shoot for a early summer say June look so I'm hoping for the majoirty of my ground cover to look green. Usually we get a drout about August. Thanks for the tips on the crossings. I think i'll do the ground cover first before doing the ballast.
Also it looks like posted this under the wrong discussion forum, sorry
 
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