New Switching Layout

[CPSD40-2]

Hey there, all - just registered, after a friend of mine directed me over here because of the great layout discussions. I just moved our family into a new home, and the wife has granted me trackage rights in a small room in our house thats 7' x 16'. I have been looking over the thread for the Bushwick Terminal, and its such a great track plan, I think it will be a perfect "anchor" to the layout, which will be along a single wall in the space for now, with a couple of small staging tracks extending around a corner on one end.

I am planning to fit out the room first, using 2 strips of track lights recycled from the kitchen ( ugly in there, functional for a train room! ) and then shop lights for general lighting in the room. The space is technically non-conditioned, as it is a raised slab between the garage and the house with insulated sliding glass doors on both ends, but it stays warm enough that only a small space heater is needed to make it comfortable while I am out there. There's a bit of humidity especially when its damp outside, nothing crazy though. So my question is, what to use for the top on the benchwork? I will be making the structure from birch plywood for stability, and was thinking of using homasote for the top - easy to tack or glue track right down, and pretty forgiving when it comes to any changes down the road. Any thoughts on this?

- Jered

[scubadude]

Jered, your friend is right, this is the best forum around! The more pictures you post, the more feedback you will get...I think most folks use the extruded pink or blue foam insulation as the base for roadbed and scenery, lightweight, easy to cut and is not too $$$$.
Looking forward to following your progress....

[Gary S]

I like the 2" thick extruded foam because the area I model is mostly flat with lots of ditches, bayous, creeks, and underpasses. The foam makes it easy to carve in the ditches and such.

Also, I used manufactured track instead of hand-laid. Didn't need the roadbed to hold spikes.

so... your choice of what to use is going to depend on your intentions. Hand-laid or store bought track? And what locale are you modeling?

[CPSD40-2]

Guys - Thanks, I've used foam insulation before, and since this will essentially be a flat switching layout, I am not thinking I will be messing around with too many undulations in the landscape. Then again, nothing is ever truly "flat", so ditches and such can be a plus. I just hate the mess that comes with working with the insulation, personally.

Geographically, this would be based around a smaller city in Upstate NY, nothing like NYC. There were similar switching districts in a lot of place like Geneva, Elmira, Utica, and others, and I am sure that they were generally flat. Maybe the good old closet door on the shelf brackets would work?

[Ralph]

There's a bit of humidity especially when its damp outside, nothing crazy though. So my question is, what to use for the top on the benchwork? I will be making the structure from birch plywood for stability, and was thinking of using homasote for the top - easy to tack or glue track right down, and pretty forgiving when it comes to any changes down the road. Any thoughts on this?

- Jered

Hi Jered and welcome!

I used homasote for my track base over plywood. I like it for the reasons you noted. Humidity, as you probably know, can be a real issue with homasote but if you paint it (both sides) that seems to greatly reduce the risk of warping. Painting it a ground color also aids in scenery construction. My basement has some temperature and humidity control issues but I've never had roadbed warping problems on the layout over the 18 years I've gradually been building it.

Ralph

[BR60103]

I like Homasote for roadbed at least. Best feature is that you can push pins/nails/spikes in and it holds them and you can put screws in and it holds them.
But you can cut away the bits beyond the track and add foam for scenery.

[torikoos]

Welcome Jerred, I hope you will enjoy your time here, and more to the point, look forward to your layout build pictures and stories :-)

Koos