New to model railroading

[jward]

I may be in the minority but I don't use foam board at all, except for maybe building up mountains. My track is all laid on white pine dimensional lumber, cut and fit to support the track only. Most of the time I use the hard shell method for scenery, where the plaster cloth is laid over mountain forms made of crumpled newspaper or cardboard strips. I don't skimp on my subroadbed to keep weight down. experience has taught me that sturdy construction is best, and I don;t trust foam board to hold up under a move. You will never regret overbuiding your layout, but you will kick yourself if an underbuilt layout sags and warps causes endless derailments.

[trainman203]

Since the OP said he was going to use a foam base and the discussion went that way, I didn't say anything about the non-use of foam either.  My layout is only 17 inches wide, and doesn't have much room for any other scenery past the track. Some of my track is Bachmann EZ track, and the rest is mostly Atlas flex track and number six track switches on cork roadbed or cork sheet in the yard.  It is, however, 48 feet long, which gives me a nice long run between terminals on either end. The layout itself is three-quarter inch thick 8' long shelf boards, a 1x12 and a 1x6 next to each other except for one narrow run on a 1x6 only. They are adequately supported on metal storage shelf units.  I refuse to use power tools after nearly losing a couple of fingers when a skil saw bucked up on me a while back, and this layout has not one saw cut anywhere on it.

[Len]

The OP said he's going the 4x8 route, so the 2" foam on top of the plywood makes sense if he want's an easy way to make rivers and gullies. It's a lot easier to carve the foam than to saw up the plywood table top and drop sections to create rivers. And the foam pieces removed to create the rivers and be flipped over and used to create small hills to break up the view a bit.

Len

[trainman203]

Here's something the OP Might be interested in, to make a 4 x 8 layout appear larger.

https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/199869.aspx

[jward]

Here's something the OP Might be interested in, to make a 4 x 8 layout appear larger.

https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/199869.aspx

The only drawback to the scenic divider idea is that it effectively increases the space a layout needs. You can't put the layout back in a corner of the room with a divider because you wouldn't have access to anything behind the divider. If you plan to have a aisleway on at least three sides of the layout, a divider will work well. If, like me, you don't have room for the aisleway having a backdrop along the rear of the layout, and designing it so that all switches are within arm's reach of the access you DO have will accomplish much the same thing.

[trainman203]

A 4x8 layout with a scenic divider needs access on all 4 sides to work well.  But... a 4x8 all the way up to the walls in room corner... can you really reach across to re-rail something? Or solder a bad rail joiner? Or even get the scenery done?

The last time I had a 4x8 layout, I was 15 years old, and skinny enough to get around to the back through the 9 or 12 inch space to the wall, whatever it was, it wasn't much that's for sure.  I ended up cutting that board into two 2x8's and making an L out of them, creating the first Midland Western... essentially what I have now times two to make a U-shaped layout in two rooms. basically the the same basic track plan as today, just times two today. I've really been building the same layout for 60 years now. My Missouri Pacific branchline narrative has never changed since back then.

[jward]

Can you put a 4x8 back in the corner and have a workable layout? Yes, model railroaders have done it for generations. As a matter of fact, John Allen's original Gorre & Daohetid was just such a plan, with everything that needed to be accessed on a regular basis within arms reach on only two sides. Most derailments occur at switches, and he kept them all relatively close to the edge.

Building a layout to fit in a corner means some of model railroading's most sacred cows must be sacrificed. For one, in order to have access to the rear of the layout you must either design it using an open grid framework to provide access via an access hatch, or bury the track in a tunnel where you can reach up inside the mountain to retrieve derailed cars. Or you must build strong, sturdy benchwork that will support your weight if you need to crawl up there. Both of those fly in the face of what the current crop of self proclaimed experts are pushing in the model railroad magazines.

My current layout offers a good example of how a corner layout works. I've built a tunnel along one side on one line, with the second line curving around the mountain. Scenery started at the backdrop along the sides against the walls and progressed outward from there. The center of the layout will be an access hatch. The benchwork was designed to provide enough room for me to pop up in the middle of the layout.

Trackwork was painstakingly laid, tested, and all joints soldered before scenery was started to ensure no problems with derailments or loss of power in those hard to reach spots. The only issues I have there are when I haven't run trains in awhile and the track gets dirty. But I am working on a permanent solution for that in the form of a deadrail track cleaning train. It will be powered by rechargeable batteries, and controlled by bluetooth similar to EZ App.

Because I took great care in the construction of the track, and built a sturdy subroadbed as a foundation for it, derailments are nonexistent in the back areas. The worst problems I've had have been in dropping my 20 car test train down the 3% grade on the back track. Trains that heavy must be handled with care lest the sheer weight of the train pop cars off the track. But 20 car trains are not run in regular service. The normal train is between 5 and ten cars. Keeping the speed down and a steady hand on the throttle will get those test trains down the hill in one piece, just the same as the real railroads keep the speed down when descending the heavy mountain grades my railroad represents.

I guess the main thing here is not to be in a hurry to plaster everything over in a rush to get the scenery built before you have the bugs worked out of the track.   

[trainman203]

I quit listening to the pontifications of the Gods in Milwaukee a very long time ago, so I don't know what they're saying now. Anything you need to know about Model Railroading is on the Internet for free, so who needs them?

I know that a full size layout can be pushed up into a corner, but as you've said, it needs very careful planning and attention to avoid problems.

One of the best and most ingenious solutions I ever saw to accessing far reaches of a deep layout was done by a guy who had a lift out panel in the middle of the layout. He screwed a construction hardhat helmet to the underside of it so that when he had to get through that hole, he'd crawl under the layout, put his head inside the hardhat, and then stand up through the hole, with the lift out sectional on top of his head.

I laugh every time I think about this, but it really is a good idea.

[Terry Toenges]

The best way to go if you have your layout in a corner - rollers. I just roll it out to do anything that needs to  be done in back. I used a metal bed frame as a base with plywood screwed to it. Then I put the foam on top of that.

[trainman203]

Pretty low.  You must have good knees.

😂😂😂

[Terry Toenges]

If it was high the little kids wouldn't be able to see it. I use a rolling stool often.

[jward]

The best way to go if you have your layout in a corner - rollers. I just roll it out to do anything that needs to  be done in back. I used a metal bed frame as a base with plywood screwed to it. Then I put the foam on top of that.

Yeah, I forgot to mention mine is on casters too. I forgot about that. I've got so much stuff in the room I have nowhere to roll it to, but it will roll away from the wall if I need it to. Overall layout size is 4.5 X 10, in two sections bolted together to form one solid unit.

[trainman203]

That photo is how many of us first started with Trains back in the Jurassic.

[Ralph S]

I'm not new to modeling but this topic, seemed to have morphed into layout material, so is using foam cutters (hot wire foam cutter) not a sound way to put together a layout?

[Terry Toenges]

I used to have one of those some years ago. It worked for me but I didn't like the smell. I just went to knives, saws, files, rasps, sandpaper, graters, wire brushes in various stiffnesses, dry wall tools. Things I can find in the kitchen drawers like paring knives and turkey carvers.