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Constructing the base
Overview
To build a decent-sized layout you'll need some kind of flat surface
to run your trains on. Of course, it may not be flat when you've
applied the landscape (see later), but it needs to start off flat.
Real trains don't take kindly to gradients, hence the prevalence of
cuttings and embankments to keep the rails level while the scenery
goes up and down. A model railway can have smooth gradients,
and you can get away with a steepness that would be quite out of the
question in a real railway, but erratic bumps in the surface will be
troublesome, especially near points.
So, you need a smooth, level surface. The way you obtain it will
depend on the layout area. For an area 4' x 8' or
smaller, a single piece of plywood reinforced with battens will do
fine. Anything much bigger than this will need a more elaborate
structure. Our layout uses a latice of 1.5" x 1.5" battens to
support the surface. These are supported off the floor by legs of
the same material.
Three sides of the layout are supported also by battens screwed
directly to the wall. If you need to get access to the layout from all
sides, then you'll need more legs. Alternatively, use bigger battens.
With 1.5" x 1.5" battens, you won't be able to get away with having only one
leg at each corner: the whole structure will sag under its own weight.
Don't forget that if your layout is built right up to two or more
walls, you may need to provide an opening to allow access to the
areas near the walls. In general, you can probably work on an area at
most two feet from where you're standing; perhaps four feet if you
really stretch. So ideally, no part of the layout should be more than
three feet, ideally two feet, from a place you can stand. For a large
layout this may mean that you need to leave an aisle or a hole in the
middle. A hole is more traditional, and consumes less layout surface,
but it does mean you need to get on your hands and kness
to get into it. I have allowed a hole in the middle about 2' square;
this will be covered with a removeable scenery panel when not in
use.
For the layout surface itself, there are many alternatives.
The traditional approach is to use 3/4" plywood panels. A cheaper
alternative is chipboard, of about the same thickness. In both
cases you'll need to surface it with something, rather than laying
the track directly onto the wood. This is because the trains
will clatter horribly if running on such a hard, rigid surface. You
can either line the whole layout surface, or lay the rails onto a
foam `ballast'. The advantage of the latter is that it looks very
realistic: real trains do run on a raised trackbed. The disadvantage
is that it's horrible to fit, especially under points. You can get
point-shaped foam inserts to match the ballast, but they're very
expensive. My preference was to line the entire surface. I
experimented with various materials; my first choice was cork. This is
very springy and absorbs vibrations very well. On a small, test layout
it performed admirably. The problem is cost: to cover a large layout
with cork will cost essentially the same as tiling a floor with cork.
Moreover, it doesn't take paint very well and its natural colour is
not very railway-like. If you want to use cork, you can get it in
rolls or tiles; rolls are best for large areas.
Design choices
For the full-sized layout I am using fibreboard floor underlay,
because I had a heap of it left over from reflooring other parts
of the house. This
stuff is intended to be used underneath hardwood floors, to even the
surface and provide some springiness.
The boards are about 10mm thick, and available in various
sizes starting from about 2' x 3'.
The advantages of
fibreboard include the following.
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It's cheap
compared to the alternatives (about £1 per square meter) and
widely available from DIY retailers (I got mine from Wickes);
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Because it is designed to
by springy, it absorbs clattering noises quite well, so trains
run very quietly.
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The boards I used are
green, so it won't matter so much if bits of it
show through the scenery. It has two different surfaces: one
perfectly smooth and the other slightly stippled. The stippled side
looks rather like rough grassland, so I laid it with that side up.
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It can be cut to shape with a sharp knife, which is handy if you
have irregularly shaped areas as I do. Cutting leaves a ragged edge which
can easily be tidied up with sandpaper.
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Because the fibreboard is easy to cut, it can be cut into irregular
shapes between the tracks. This allows us to represent land that
lies below the level of the track. How far down you can go
depends on what is below your fibreboard. If it is mounted on a
wooden sub-base, you can only go down the depth of the fibreboard.
Nonetheless, this gives you the scope to model a pool or small
lake whose surface is slightly below the ground level. You could
even fill it with water, if the cut-out were waterproofed.
There are a few problems, however.
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Fibreboard doesn't hold onto track pins as well as wood does, so you'll need to use more pins when laying out the track.
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Fibreboard isn't quite strong
enough to be used as the baseboard itself, but two sheets glued
together are (just). Provided you brace the underside regularly enough,
it will take a reasonably weight without sagging. It will never
be strong enough to stand on, even for a child. The underside can
be braced with any old offcuts of timber; I had cartloads of these,
left over from other DIY projects. If I had to buy everything from
scratch, perhaps a better approach might be fibreboard layed over
chipboard. This will be solid and cheap.
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The fibres are slighly irritating if they settle on the skin. This is
only a problem when cutting and sanding.
In any event,
our layout surface and structure cost a total of about £30: £20 for the
timber and £10 for the fibreboard. This price doesn't include the
offcuts that I used for bracing the underside of the layout.
You could do it even more cheaply by using unfinished timber; I used
planed wood because getting wood splinters in your skin hurts, and the
layout is high enough for small children to play underneath it.
Construction
We started by establishing the boundaries of the area to be occupied, and
clearing and preparing a space. The picture below shows the working area,
which is a corner of the loft.
We then built up the base and the supporting trellis from left to right,
supporting it during assembly using sawhorses. The main structural support
is provided by battens screwed directly to the walls; the legs provide
additional support at approximately 3-foot intervals. The fibreboard panels
are not strong enough to be used as the base on their own, so they are
braced underneath using off-cuts of wood.
When the supporting framework is in place, the first layer of fibreboard
is glued and screwed to the frame, then a second layer of fibreboard
glued on top of that. The result is a perfectly flat, smooth surface
with a small amount of flexibility and good sound-absorbing properties.
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