Track bed preparation
Following the purchase of two rolls of 3mm cork at the St Andrews model railway exhibition , the rolls were cut into 35mm wide strips.
The track locations that had been marked of the baseboard were checked and the first area of straight track markings was painted over with PVA glue.
A piece of cork was also painted on the underside with PVA, placed over the marked location and stuck down.
This was allowed to dry before the next straight piece was laid.
The next experiment with cork was to get some glued down on the outside rail curves, which are third radius.
For this, a cork strip was cut lengthways into three pieces and each piece laid on glue separately.
High-level goods track
For the higher level end to end track at the back of the layout, kingspan insulation was cut into 30mm wide strips, the insulation being 90mm thick.
These strips of insulation were fixed to the baseboard with stixall adhesive.
A 60mmwide strip of 9mm plywood was fixed to the top and held in place until the adhesive had dried.
The insulation being cut to 30mm wide and the plywood to 60mm wide was deliberate - the insulation is against the wall and securely fixed, the plywood overhanging by up to 30mm. This is to allow the middle (low level) track to have the maximum clearance at the 'stations' - a measurement which I have not worked out yet, but giving a few extra mm under the high level trackbed at this stage will not hurt, and allows for more creative ways to fill in any gaps.
Materials:
2x Rolls 3mm thick cork 900mm x 300mm - www.cm3models.co.uk
PVA glue - Wickes.
Sika Stixall adhesive.
Plywood 9mm - remains of original sheets. from B&Q.