Geotextiles Under the Track

[Rick Rowlands]

How has using geotextiles under your trackage worked out?  Do you put anything under the fabric or lay it down directly on the roadbed?  How much ballast is between the fabric and the bottom of the ties? 

I have a rather soft area to build a track on and am considering using fabric to stiffen the subroadbed, and want to see how it works in practice.

[Mike Fox]

We have a few locations where the fabric is being used. It works well keeping the stone above the mud.
As far as depth of stone, minimum should be 6 to 8 inches. The deeper you go the better though. A tamper would go right through the fabric if the ballast is too shallow.

If you can, pre ballast and use that roller to compact it. Will make for a better base and less work to finish later.