Cork and sound deadening under your track

Benjamin | TrackDrawer.com · published 10 November 2026

Track without its own roadbed is best laid on a strip of cork: it deadens the running noise and gives the track a shoulder like a real railway line. Track with a moulded plastic roadbed usually goes straight onto the baseboard, but a soft layer underneath makes that quieter too. Just as important is what you do afterwards: tight screws, glued ballast and a thin, hollow baseboard pass the sound straight back on.

Where the noise comes from

A moving train sets the rails vibrating. That vibration passes through the sleepers into whatever lies underneath. If the track sits directly on a large, thin board, the board acts like the body of a guitar: it turns a quiet click into a dull rumble you hear throughout the room.

Three things decide how loud it gets:

• The connection between track and board. The harder and tighter it is, the better the vibration gets through.
• The board itself. A large, thin panel vibrates along more easily than a thick board or an open frame with narrow trackbed strips.
• The space under the board. A hollow space amplifies the sound, like the body of an instrument.

A layer of cork or foam breaks the first link. What else you can do about the board is covered in open frame or solid baseboard.

Cork

Cork is the classic material under model track. It is light, easy to cut and stays reasonably stable once glued. It comes in three forms:

• Cork strips with a bevelled edge. Narrow strips, often split down the middle, with a bevelled outer edge. You lay the two halves with their straight edges together on the centre line; that way they follow a curve as well. The bevelled edges form the shoulder.
• Cork sheet. Large sheets, handy under turnouts, stations and yards, where many tracks lie side by side.
• Cork on a roll. Cheap for long runs, but you cut the shape yourself.

How to go about it: first draw the centre line on the board (see laying track: from plan to baseboard), glue the cork along it and let the glue dry thoroughly. Then sand the joints between strips flush. A half-millimetre ridge in the cork becomes a bump in the track. Under a turnout, use a piece cut from sheet rather than strips: a turnout is wider than plain track and must lie flat along its whole length, or the blades will bind.

Foam and rubber

Besides cork there are underlays of soft foam or rubber, as strips or as sheet. They often deaden better than cork, but have two catches:

• They give. A soft layer that compresses under a heavy loco or under your hand lets the track move. At a joint or a turnout that is unwelcome. Choose a firm grade and do not fix the track down hard on it.
• Glue makes them hard. If you later glue ballast on top, the upper surface of the layer becomes one hard mass with the track. Part of the deadening is lost. The same goes for cork, but with foam the difference is bigger.

Some manufacturers also offer a separate foam roadbed for track that has none of its own. In our catalogue that appears as a note for Tillig Elite: the foam roadbed is a separate accessory there, not moulded into the track piece.

Which track already has a roadbed?

Track with a roadbed has a plastic or metal track base with a shoulder. It sits stably on a flat surface and needs no cork to look like a railway line. Track without a roadbed sits on the board with open sleepers; it only looks finished with cork and ballast. This is what our catalogue says:

Why lay cork under track that already has a roadbed? Only for the noise. A hollow plastic roadbed can resonate itself, and if it is screwed tight to a thin board it passes the sound on well. A thin soft layer under the roadbed, or a firm felt or cork sheet under the whole track area, helps in that case. How much it helps depends on your board and your trains: try it on a test piece first.

What passes the sound back on

A good underlay loses its effect through a hard connection over the top. Watch these points:

• Screws and pins. A screw driven firmly through track and cork into the board is a direct bridge for the vibration. Tighten screws only until the track no longer shifts, no further. A track pin that you do not drive fully home passes on less. More on this in fixing track.
• Glue. A flexible adhesive between track and cork passes on less than a hard one.
• Ballast. Glued ballast turns track, ballast and underlay into one unit. Use no more glue than needed to hold the stones.
• The board. A thicker board, battens underneath that split the large panel into smaller fields, or an open frame with narrow trackbed strips all help. Felt or rubber under the legs keeps the floor out of it.

Transitions and height differences

An underlay lifts the track. As long as everything sits on the same layer, you will not notice. It matters at the boundary:

• From cork to no cork. For example at a siding that runs beyond the cork, or at the edge of a station on cork sheet. Run a short, gentle ramp in the base there, or use the same thickness everywhere.
• From track with roadbed to track without. The railhead of track with a roadbed sits higher above the board than that of track without. Cork under the track without roadbed often brings the two to roughly the same height, but always check with a rule across the joint. Our catalogue gives the example of Kato Unitrack N: the flexible track 21-000 has no roadbed and needs an underlay to sit as high as the rest.
• Under a turnout. Point motors under the board need a hole. Cut the hole through the cork too, and keep the cork around the turnout as thick as beside it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need cork under Märklin C track?

Not for the looks: C track already has a roadbed. For the noise, a thin soft layer underneath can help, especially on a thin board. Do not then fix the track down hard, or you lose the effect.

Cork or foam: which is quieter?

A soft foam layer usually deadens more, but also gives more. Cork is a good middle way: quiet enough, firm under joints and turnouts, and easy to work. Often what decides it is not the layer itself, but how hard you fix the track to it.

Planning with the roadbed included

TrackDrawer draws every piece with the width of its roadbed or sleepers from the catalogue, on the 1:1 print as well. You can see where the cork has to go and where tracks lie so close together that cork sheet is handier than strips. The check reports a height difference at a connection, so you do not forget a transition between two bases. Enter your track and let the Auto-designer lay a plan.