In the short time I’ve been watching this forum I haven’t seen any discussion of using carpet as a base. I’d like to hear from anyone that uses, or has used this approch.
My layout is very much “TOY TRAIN” oriented by choice. Most of my engines and cars are pre-war or early post war. I am not very interested in realistic scenery, but am creating my own ‘world’, much as a child (ME) would have done in 1941.
My layout table is generally a U shape, flat, and ready for me to put down track. Any advice, comments or experience appreciated.
If carpet is a BAD IDEA, I will probably go to a “Homosote” type insulation board painted green/brown.
Hi Boonter, I approach my layout similar to you. We’ve had some discussions - perhaps still accessible through the archives - reviewing indoor-outdoor carpet available at the major home improvement centers. I’ve toyed with the idea of overlaying my layout’s foam boards with one of these brands instead of the green ‘sandpaper’ produced by LifeLike… They are relatively inexpensive.
Tom, remember our discussing this with David a few months ago? Using that v.low-pile astroturf-like outdoor - it’s more matting instead of carpet? I think they use it on boats.
If the carpet has a tight weave with few loose fibres (e.g. a loop weave as opposed to a cut pile carpet) there are generally few problems with the gearing in the engines.
I once used an indoor-outdoor rug from Lowes, approximately 6x10 feet. It worked very well and the dark green color made a good base for my flat, tin-plate style layout. There are certainly downsides to carpet as well. I probably will not use it on my next layout.
Just as a quick aside. The guy at my local LHS suggested using green felt. I didn’t think too much of it at the time because his wife just happens to sell green felt on the other side of the store. But as I have been regreting the “sandpaper” I have down now it seem like an ok idea.
Actually tight loop carpets work very well, like Dr John said. For my portable layout, that is what I use, but I take it one step further. I have Velcro hook fastened to the bottom of the ties, and it grabs the loop of the carpet, holding the track in place. Any carpet that Velcro hook sticks to is going to be safe for toy train use.
I have used various types of indoor/outdoor carpeting for toy train layouts over the years and finally settle on a type of “marine deck” carpeting that I found at Lowes or Home Depot (can’t recall which since I bought a bunch of the stuff several years ago).
The carpeting I use is a dark green color–kind of a Hunter Green, I suppose–and the advantages of this particularl carpet are many, including:
It has a low and tight pile, so your not apt to have stray fibers get tangled in train or switch mechanisms.
It seems to hold track in place very well–kind of grips the ties to prevent them from moving around. I’ve used this stuff with HO, O, Standard Gauge, and Large Scale track, and have never had a problem with the track shifting position, even if I don’t screw it down. Ditto for accessories that are placed on the surface.
It is relatively thin, and very easy to cut with a pair of ordinary household scissors.
It is available in several different colors (although I settled on the green noted above).
It is easy to vacuum and keep clean.
Now I’m not sure how available this stuff is in various regions of the country, but it’s definitely worth shopping around for. In my opinion, it is definitely superior to the other types of indoor/outdoor carpeting I’ve used in the past, and believe me, I’ve tried 'em all at one point or another.
I use green indoor/outdoor carpeting on my layout and have the track laid straight on it and not nailed down. I use just prewar and postwar and so have my layout in the tinplate toy style like your planned layout. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with it and strongly recommend it.
You can’t really drill through carpet (unless you enjoy watching it rapidly unravel and foul up your drill!). You can, however, punch through it with an awl, then drill through platform carefully for wiring.
Kind of monochromatic. Again, okay for the toy-train look.
ballasting is more of a challenge. You really don’t want to wet down the carpet if you can avoid it. You can leave the ballast loose, but that can create its own set of problems.
Screwing down track is a problem. (See #1 about the drill!)
Can be costly, depending on type of carpet used. (I found mine on sale at Lowes).
Nice overall effect from about six feet. Up close it looks like - carpet.
While you can cut the carpet, doing so may cause a problem with unraveling unless you add seam tape.
All of these are fairly minor and I do not mean to discourage you from using carpet. I think it gives a nice, nostalgic look to “tin plate” or more traditional toy train layouts. It certainly beats the “plywood pacific” look.
I would not recommend using ballast (loose ballast) on a carpeted layout, or, for that matter, any layout. It will eventually scatter due to vibration. At the very least it makes cleaning the layout a bit problematic, and at worse it can work its way into switch mechanisms and the like.
One reasonably assumes that if you’re going to go with a carpeted layout, it is intended to be (look like) a toy train layout. If you want more of a Hi-Rail look, you’ll pretty much have to dispense with the carpeted approach. On a toy train layout, nobody will notice the lack of a ballasted roadbed. And if it is important to you, then go with MTH RealTrax or Lionel’s FasTrack.
Hi Guys,
A few years ago CTT did an article on David Dansky’s magnificent layout.
He used different colors of Berber? carpet to represent diferent things.
Green for grass,blue for water,grey for roads,etc…
When I finally build a permanent layout this is the way I will go about it.
I really was impressed by the way his layout was done.
John, I understand what you are talking about when it comes to drilling through the carpet, but every one of my rectangular modules has 21 holes, zero runs. Prehaps it is because I glued the carpet down first, then drilled from the bottom, using a sharp bit.
