Stanley Sure Form

I use a Stanley Sure Form hand plain.  You should be able to get one at any Big Box hardware store.

I use one (or two) of those

I use one (or two) of those (long and short) and sometimes a random orbit sander and also my sanding bad on my osculating saw tool.

The key to it all however is making sure it is glued down and glued down very well. You need to glue to get on ALL the surface so as to minimize the likely hood of the cork ripping.

I use this to ramp up and down when needed (I keep my non mainline about 1/8" or so lower then the mainline and use the cork to ramp down).

Doug M

What I've Done

I use a cheap-o belt sander from K Mart and 150 grit belts.

I second the heavy sand

I second the heavy sand paper, much better control IMO.

I second the Stanley

I use Stanley Sure Form hand plain and I would guess that the biggest advantage over a belt sander is less mess.  you still have to vaccuum after using the Stanley but the debris is pretty localized and near real dust is generated.

 I have used mine to smooth the contours of the cork as well to transition the cork down to either the bare plywood or from HO sized cork down to N sized cork.

transitions

I have found sanded transitions to be unnecessary. I butt the two thicknesses together.  I use weights to hold the track in place after gluing.  I fill the transition area with dirt leaving some space for ballast and add water/glue.  After this dries I then ballast.  I tried this the first time after seeing a before and after of a small n scale layout that had gaps of up to 1/4 inch deep and about an inch long under the track--looked and worked fine after ballasting.

I do use a sureform plane for smoothing and rounding the cork edges that would interfere with the look of the ballast.

Terry

I hand sand with a sanding

I hand sand with a sanding block unless I have a large length of roadbed to sand down.  Then I use a small electric sander with medium grit paper.  I use the cork dust to fill gaps and also as "dirt".