Roadbed / Platform Top Construction.....

[Anonymous]

Hi all....

I am in the midst of planning a Christmas train layout for my kids and nephew/nieces..... The goal of the layout is so I can easily put it up in November and take it down in late January. I have plenty of houses, other building, cars and other items to add. I don't want to have to get in to all sorts of foam contruction for mountains, plaster molds etc....

I want them all to be able to run a train at the same time so to help aviod problems.... Each will be running on its own closed track. A total of about 6 trains, both locomotives and diesels. I am planning a lay out that is 12 feet by 10 feet roughly... The layout so I can tear it down each year is build out of 3' by 3' square platforms with 5/8 plywood on top and then they are all bolted together underneath with 3/8 inch bolts 2 on each side.

My questions is should I bother with a road bed under the tracks? I want to be able to change the path of the trains each year so it is different and not the same year to year.... Also I was planning on using code 100 flex track. Also I was planning on putting down the green "paper" grass and laying the track on that.

Any comments are helpful on how best to do this... my goal is ease of putting it up but want it to work for the kids....

Thanks


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[mbshaw]

I would recommend using Bachmann's E-Z Track or Atlas' True-Track. The roadbed is already built in and you can take it apart each year and reconfigure it the next.

[MisterBeasley]

You might consider using homasote on top of the plywood. Homasote will take small nails easily, and it will grip them pretty well. It will also give them up if you apply enough "persuasion." It's hard to nail track down to plywood. (Most of us who make permanent layouts use glue to hold down the track, but that won't work if you want to set it up differently every year.) Homasote by itself isn't very stiff, however, so you would need at least some plywood underneath. For a 3x3 box, I think half-inch would do. You can tack track directly to homasote, without roadbed. It will also be significantly quieter than plywood, but with 6 nieces and nephews, who would ever notice?

Make sure you allow access to every bit of track. Trains will derail, and you will have to reach to get them. The standard "reach distance" is 30 inches.

[selector]

Just use EZ-Track, as suggested above, and use the widest curves you can fit. If it were up to me, I would lay the EZ-Track on strips of that cupboard rubber pad that one uses to keep things put. It would silence the trains quite a bit...a preference for me.

[Anonymous]

build it and keep it up. ill sell you my power lock crap.