Model Railroading > Modeling street running

I am building an industrial themed layout and want to incorporate some street running. Ares there any commercial materials available?

About all that you need for street running is special rail with built-in flangeways, but nobody offers that in any scale. Some modelers use rail turned on its side, with its head butted up against the web (narrow part) of the actual track's rail to simulate flangeways. As far as pavement around the tracks goes, that's easy and fun to simulate from "scratch" using a variety of methods, from cardboard to plaster to clay.

EO

 

The Proto87 Stores has a few options:

http://www.proto87.com/Paved_industrial_or_dockside_track.html

http://www.proto87.com/Street_track_for_trolleys_and_trams.html

These are compatible with standard HO, so you don't need to go all out with P:87 wheelsets.

- Chris
 

Christopher Slemp
South Hadley, MA
Milepost 15

A few options-

1- Walthers makes a system for Atlas snap track that is basically track inserts. Straight, curved, and turnout inserts. 

2-Make your own version of the above from whatever you are using to make your roads. 

3-There is a tool that is sold on shapeaways that will cut the flangeways into plaster or air drying clay. 

4-Proto87 stores sells components for straight, various curves, and turnouts. Its basically etched rail though, and has to be glued or soldered into place. 

My last layout (before I had to move AGAIN), I experimented with all , and figured out that #2 was the best. #1 didn't look right to me, and #4 had a high learning curve. 

Another thing, is look at the prototype that you want to model. I was modeling San Francisco, and discovered on field trips there that that the different railroads all had their own standard. Old Santa Fe track for example, was actually double railed, like two standard rails next to each other with a small gap.. Old SP track was more akin to modern trolley track. 

cslemp Wrote:
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> The Proto87 Stores has a few options:
>
> http://www.proto87.com/Paved_industrial_or_docksid
> e_track.html
>
> http://www.proto87.com/Street_track_for_trolleys_a
> nd_trams.html
>
> These are compatible with standard HO, so you
> don't need to go all out with P:87 wheelsets.
>
> - Chris

Well, I'll be darned! I missed this and will have to give Proto87's stuff a test at the first opportunity.

As to Walthers offerings for Altas snap track, "scratch-built" pavement is so easy and looks so good (and is so CHEAP!), I don't know why anyone would bother with Walthers, especially since pre-fab seriously limits your track configurations, looks aside. Home-made pavement is just too easy; something that even novice modelers can do.

To model brick pavement around rails, I've lately been using an embosssing roller from Shapeways with success. It's pricey at $30, but you get unlimted custom pavement. Mine's HO, but it is also available in N.

Later edit: I should mention that the roller is intended to be used with DAS or similar air hardening modeling clay (2.2 lbs, of terra cotta color for $9.54 on Amazon Prime), which is much more manageable than plaster for pavement in my experience.

EO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 13:19 by hogheaded.

I recently did the plaster method and it worked pretty weel. I have this Chinese Bachmann engine with deep-flange wheels that I'm trying to figure out replacements for, so I had one of those wheels handy. I covered the track roughly level with plaster, using a stiff sheet of styrene. I found that it was best to wait for the plaster to set a bit before using the wheel to carve out the flangeways.

The deep-flange wheel worked perfectly to make sure regular wheels don't get snagged. It produces some random cracks and inconsistancies, which was ideal for my purposes. One thing caution, though: if the plaster is truly level with the track, many methods for cleaning the rail will remove a bit of the plaster (until it is lower in height.) If you don't mix paint into the plaster, then you will get white spots everytime the plaster is removed.

When I get home I can get a photo to show this example.

All great suggestions.  I've had luck with plaster.  After its dried, I go back with a razor blade and scrap away just enough plaster so the rails sit a little bit taller than the road.  Its enough that I can still use a bright boy or track cleaning car and it doesn't remove the paint on the roads.  This took some time and practice but after awhile its hard to even tell that the rails are a little bit higher than the plaster.   Makes for much better operation.  The trains run just fine without any issues.   I clear out the flanges as the plaster is setting up with a screw driver then use the razor blade to fine tune.  

If you make mistakes, no big deal, cities repair roads all the time so start over or do a patch work.  What I like to do after I'm done is do a "wash" of Woodland scenics Concrete thinned a lot with water and just poured on the streets.  The color will collect in low spots and give the appearance of dusty, dirty roads.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 22:07 by CSURAM.

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Those streets look great CSURAM,  I like plaster as well.  Some of the best street track Ive seen though was by Bob Smaus in his Port of LA project in MR.  Check that out if you can.  He got the color just right too, which in all honesty, may be more important than the material in selling the scene.