I’m about to order my first bacth of track (120 ft.) and am deciding how to do the roadbase, but am worried about our very expansive clay “soil” here, northwest of Denver.
I’m thinking of using a technique for at least the raised sections using a ladder profile roadbed made from plastic lumber. This method still has me installing posts to support the railbed, so is still akin to the traditional post & stretcher method. I expect to plant the posts ~2 feet deep to get below frost depth, but will certainly be in clay.
I thought of using the method of digging a trench and filling with crusher fines, but then realized it would almost certainly fill with water and swell the clay. I’m working around an existing landscape with no accessibility for any machinery, so can’t do anything radical.
Does anyone have experience with a layout installed any way on top of shifting soils?
thanks, Ken