I am currently planning a 5x8 tabletop layout for my bedroom. I will be using Gargraves with wooden ties track since I purchased it a while ago. I wanted to have a Lionel display look with grass mats on a smooth plywood top with 2 or 3 loops with operating accessories. I am not sure weather to use roadbed or just skip it like on the Lionel layouts displays with Super O Track. My goal to make something fun but yet simple. Thanks.
It's all a matter of personal preference. S.O.P. at the Lionel display department in the 50's was to use whatever methods allowed them to turn out displays fastest, rather than what was most realistic. On many of them the "roadbed" was just the gray primer as-is. Roads were tan paint and grassy areas had raw sawdust sprinkled on while the green paint was wet. A step up would be to take a cue from the showroom layout and use sand for roads and coarse ballast under the rails. If you lay them in a thin layer you'd keep the store display look.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Thanks for the tips. I was thinking of putting the tracks on and using a combo of ballast around the ties and grass mats and some heavy black paper for roads.
Get yourself a shaker jug of Woodland Scenics gray ballast, and some old gray household paint. Trace where your trackwork is going, paint that area, then while the paint is still very wet, sprinkle on a fine layer of ballast. I think you will be satisfied with the results.
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