# Question about road crossing railroad tracks



## drabina (Mar 19, 2013)

I am building a very small oval layout. There is going to be a one street town in the middle. I would like the road that goes thru the town to continue to the layout's edge (it will have to cross tracks twice). My layout is flat (grass mat) and I am using Kato Unitrack which sits pretty high with its built-in roadbed. If I want to level the road to the track, it will have a very steep incline just before the tracks. Another option would be to start gradually but that means that road will raise for a pretty big distance so it will be raised over the "grass" that's on a side. Either way it is going to look strange.

My layout is fictional and I am not following prototype closely but that's one thing that bothers me. Sort of to the point where I am thinking of keeping the road only in the middle of the layout without touching the tracks.

Any ideas?


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

You can go gradually, like they do prototypically, with out using a real long "ramp". Use the beginning ramp of a track trestle pier set as a guide.


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## MRLdave (Nov 1, 2011)

What are you using for your road? I've done crossings with styrene and sandpaper and you can ramp up to track level pretty quick. There are some pretty steep crossings out there in the real world......I've seen at least a couple that will snag lowboy trailers. You can then fill the gap with some ground foam dirt of grass.


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## drabina (Mar 19, 2013)

I am planning on using Woodland Scenics road kit. Basically, I will scrape the grass to a bare vinyl and paint the road. So it is not going to be raised over the grass.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Use roofing shingles for the road. Cheap and in N-scale you can have some nice big sections without gaps. Simple yellow/white paint pens can make the lines.


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## ckblum (Nov 28, 2013)

Roofing shingles? Any certain type/brand? I'm looking to do some roads soon as well, roofing shingles sound like they might be a not coarse though?


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