A Tragedy of cold wood.

[eastcoast]

[V][:0][:(!]
I have discovered a BIG problem.
My layout is on the bottom level (basement ) of my house.
It started getting cold here and I do not provide heat to that room.
I took the temp and it read 55*F in there.
MY PROBLEM ??
I went to go and run some trains, and found that the 1/2in. plywood
subbase WARPED. I now have a lump where it curved upwards and
has affected a huge portion of one wall. I guess I got some work to do
to fix this problem. I thought I had it all solid and screwed down. I WAS
WRONG. I do know how to fix it, JUST A TRAGEDY I FEEL. OH,WELL !!!
I am still angry.
[V][:(!][:(][xx(]
ken_ecr

[Anonymous]

Mother nature does sometimes seem to enjoy "helping" with our layouts. [:O]

[dharmon]

Welcome to real railroading.......it's a great scenario. Since a frost heave has affected your mainline, you need the track gang to come in an lay a shoo fly track around the condition while repairs are underway. There will of course be reduced speeds in the area and such.

The ECR cannot afford, I willing to bet, the closure of a main for any extended period. Those HO customers of yours will go to 1/87 Boley/Athearn and Walther trucks if you can't deliver... and those HO scale truck collectors will be picking up YOUR business. [:)]

The only thing I can recommend is kind of painful, which would be to double the plywood under the track sections...kind of like a house's subfloor. Or you could try placing a dehumidifier/humidifer down there to control the moisture that may help.

[GerFust]

Just a thought, but brute force may work....

Maybe get a piece of angle iron, with holes in it. Mount it securely to the benchwork frame. Drill holes up through the subbase. Put a bolt through the top (you'll have to fix your scenery later) and put the nut on the other side of the steel under the layout. Then wrench it back into the shape you want flat.

If that puts too much pressure on other parts of the layout, then you may want to make some cuts through the plywood from underneath. Then you will need to add reinforcing once you have it in place.

[ndbprr]

It happens the other way too with expansion to railroads put down in cooler weather. Generally once it is fixed it doesn't happen any more. One of lifes little aggravations for living in an area with four seasons.

[Hawks05]

my layout will be on the top floor of our house. its like a spare bedroom. my room and this room are the only 2 up there. bad thing is come summer my room gets to be about 95-105 degrees daily. not fun at all for sleeping. glad i can still sleep downstairs in my old room. oh ya this is with the AC on to. the AC only has one vent upstairs that heats both rooms. so right now in the middle of winter almost its like 60. freezing cold all the time.

[nfmisso]

Ken;

It is much more likely due to a change in humdity, not a change in temperature.

This is one of the many reasons people use foam.