If At First You Don't Succeed,Fail, Fail, Fail Again

While my wife is not a model railroader, she is a supporter. At least she became one once she found out her grandchildren love trains. I didn't seem so crazy anymore, at least not if kids thought it was cool. She has always listened, but now it's a bit more intently. We often talk about what's going on in the garage and discuss new ideas and failures. We were talking about this spline roadbed idea this morning as I drove her to work. The foam lattice was working fine and I was able to create "hard" splines with it. The cost kinda bothered me. One lattice strip is only $3.64, Maybe a few are $9 or $12 but I need about thirty. That's a big ticket item, the cost of a nice, maybe even new, N scale locomotive.

So I went out looking for an alternative to the foam lattice. I was wandering through the local Lowes store when I remembered those laminate strips they used to sell to finish kitchen counter ends. I could use a couple to test out the idea.. I found them, but they're not inexpensive strips anymore. Now they come in a kit with wood and glue and the price is $10. Oh well. I looked down at the 4' x 8' sheets of laminate. I wondered if it would be possible to cut one into strips, much like the strips of blue foam I used for the "soft" splines. At $42 a sheet I wasn't willing to find out. I turned away and rounded the corner to leave, when...Sitting right in front of me was a rolled sheet of laminate. It was chipped on the corner. Because of that chip it was only $20. I asked the clerk if it was a full 4' x 8'. I ended up with two clerks using a tape measure to assure me it was a full sheet. I picked it up, payed the bill and took it home.

It took a bit of experimentation before I was able to cut a strip from the sheet. ThingX couldn't cut it, not with the blade I was using. If I applied enough pressure to score the laminate the blade would bend. If I didn't apply pressure, it hardly scratched the stuff. Then I tried a  real utility knife. I could apply as much pressure as I liked and it did what it was designed to do. I used the straightedge from ThingX to guide the knife down the laminate. As long as I paid attention to where the blade was and held it against the guide I got a straight cut. I didn't cut all the way through. I scored the material just enough to sanp off the strip. I found that if I cut with the finished side up, I could snap the stuff at the score and get a clean edge. I was able to cut two strips pretty quickly. Not as fast as the foam cut, but hey, laminate is a  tougher material. The best part was the two "hard" splines that resulted were exactly the same height as the "soft" splines. I smegged on some glue and layed up roadbed for a single track...

Single Track Laminate Spline

Things looked good. The cuts on the laminate The height of the splines was equal and the roadbed surface was flat. Now the big question was whether the thing actually worked well enough to support weight. I waited for the glue to dry.

The next morning I went into the garage and checked out the spline. Seemed good to go. For the testing this time I chose a place on the grid where the crosspieces were two feet apart. I laid the straight section of roadbed accross them and clamped it to the supports. I then set about 35-40 pounds on top...

" I then set about 35-40 pounds on top"

It worked. Then spline supported the weight over the two foot span with no deflection whatsoever. I decided to push the test further. I got a big five gallon bucket and put all the smaller bolt buckets inside. I ended up with a 70 pound weight. I placed a short length of 2x4 on the roadbed to help balance the bucket and hoisted the weight on top. Didn't get a chance to take a picture, I was too busy catching the bucket.

The spline had failed. The lamination pulled apart and the plastic laminate was able to twist out of vertical...

Damaged Spline

"Delamination"

Down, but not defeated, I set an undamaged length of the roadbed so it spanned supports on 1' centers. I didn't bother with the lighter weight. I went straight to the 70 pounds. I placed the 2x4 and balanced the weight on top of the spline...

&0 Pounds Over 1' Span

The roadbed held. There was still some sign of the lamination coming apart, but that's a problem with the adhesive, not the materials. I'm confident I can make the plastic laminate work and lower the cost of the roadbed construction. I've revised my roadbed drawings to reflect the new material...

Roadbed Construction Variations

I made a rough calculation of the total cost (not counting the previous roadbed I scrapped). I purchased two 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" extruded foam for about $26. The sheet of plastic laminate cost me $20, but would cost $42 new. To make 70 feet of roadbed for the Allegheny Eastern it costs $0.54 per soft spline and 1.75 for the hard splines. I didn't include the price for glue.

No more work layout work today, have to go visit a mile long fleamarket...

Regards,

Frank Musick

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Allegheny Eastern Railroad