Laying the track on a grass mat

[Montfort]

Hello Happy Railway Modellers,
Can I lay directly the track on a grass mat like the Gaugemaster GM21 ? Thanks.

[Walkingthedog]

Yes.

[footplate1947]

Dont see why not if that is want you want to do. As long as you are happy with the look of it. When it is pinned down the track will be held in place OK I would think. Only thing that comes to my mind is what happens to the nice green grass when you start laying on all the senic stuff over the top. Dose that not make the nice green grass a waste of money.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

I agree with Footplate. Certainly there is no problem in laying the track on the grassed mat but what happens when you apply ballast. Ballast is difficult enough to lay evenly without all those little fake grass fibers getting in the way. Plus the PVA adhesive will soak into the mat and spread beyond the ballasted section causing problems with the mat itself.

If you want the effect of a stretch of track which is little used and has grass growing on it, it is better to lay and ballast the track in the usual way then apply your preferred scenic grass to the laid ballasted track as you would normally do on the surrounding landscape. Also if for some reason you need to lift the track (which can happen all too regularly) then you will find that the grass matt underneath would have to be repaired.

[Walkingthedog]

I still think "yes" was sufficient.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

[Montfort]

Thanks for all your replies gentlemen. There will be no ballasting at all because I hate that.

[Brian]

You could always use the Gaugemaster ballast strip or the Javis ballast roll.
http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details ... ster+GM210
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1200-X-150mm-T ... 2254492492
This one is cut to width needed.

They would look better than grass possibly?

[Walkingthedog]

I agree, I wouldn’t use grass.

[RogerB]

I have attempted to use the Javis materials and gave up. It is quite robust cardboard and can be hard to cut. It needs 100% PVA solution and overnight pressure to fix it in place and the material (ballast and grass in my case) came off in a gritty dust as it parted company with the card backing. On top of all that it is not, in my opinion, a realistic finish. I would think the Gaugemaster version will be similar. R-