ok so i was recently gifted a bunch of 80’s n scale tracks and engines. its the old track without the plastic road bed underneath. the pic below is a sample image of what my track looks like. ok so heres my question
i live in a tiny 380 square feet studio apartment with very little room so goibg with a plywood base would not be possible because i need to be able to move the track when not in use or when i use the space.
so i was thinking of using some foam insulation board since #1 the trains are very light compaired to HO, and #2 its easy to move if the misses needs the space.
so 2 questions
#1 what type of foam board would i use can i use several layers of elmers foam board? the cheaper the better im tight on funds
#2 since i cant use nails to secure the track down what do i use for adhesive?
lastly if i choose not to use adhesive since the track has holes for small nails what can i use to secure the track to the foam so it doesnt move when being used by trains sorry im rather new at this hobby
Greetings! I see that you’ve been a member for a few years, but your posts are few; so, welcome!
Don’t be discouraged by the age of the track or locos. I have some bachmann locos that are 35 years old and run fine. The track (rails) are nothing more than and electrical conductor. If they’re kept clean, no corrosion, bends, kinks or otherwise not damaged, they should work fine.
I don’t have N scale, but I have heard of N scalers using an old door for the base of their layout. You may want to consider it.
A 2" thick piece of foam board (either pink or blue) should work for your base. These foam boards can be located at your local hardware or home improvement store.
You can use caulk as the adhesive to hold the track onto the foam board. A thin layer (not oozing up between the ties) will adequately hold the track, as long as you don’t overly twist, fold, spindle or mutil
You can use a hollow-core door. They’re very light. They typically come in 1 3/8" and 1 3/4" thickness, the latter being the better layout choice.
They come in standard sizes. If you can use a standard size, that’s great. You’ll save money.
Some lumber yards can cut them down. This involves replacing one or two of the wood sides of the door (and, of course, cutting the door). I have had it done, and it worked great.
Thus you can have just about any size you want.
Finding such a yard in these days of Home Depot might be difficult. Not impossible, since I DID find one.
Consider building a bookshelf layout where the layout is only a few inches wide and is built on shelves along the walls which are above the height of your furniture. You can have longer runs and a bigger overall layout than with a tabletop design. Think of it was 3D artwork on the wall.
Elmers foam board is only 3/16" thick. That’s going to be too thin and flexible.
I got back into MR with a Christmas layout with 1" foam and track nails. Track nails back out frequently or fall out altogther. The layout did survive a trip up from the basement, two years in a row. While it can be done, it’s a high maintenance an unreliable solution.
Also available in 3/4" and 2" thickness. The 2" is rigid. You could make thinner foam rigid by gluing a thin piece of plywood to it. Home Depot sometimes has large pieces of plywood, that has been cut, in their scrap box.
Homasote is heavier, but sturdy and take track nails well. I’m thinking along the lines of sliding it under the bed. Home Depot would not cut a 4x8 sheet of homosote for me because it is messy.
You don’t have to build it like it’s going to be your forever layout.
What road bed? No experience with the Woodland Scenics foam road bed, but cork road bed is 2 pieces with a seam down the middle where nails go. You could cut your own cork. Buy it at Michaels or AC Moore, after you sign up for their daily email coupons.
Glueing things to foam is tricky. Liquid nails will eat into the foam. Expired silicon caulk, stored in a garage, will never set up, DAMHIK, Elmers glue has the advantage (over their yellow wood glue) that you can soak the track in water and salvage it when you decide to build a new layout. With a thin amount of caulk, you will be able to pry up the track with a putty knife and reuse it.
I’ve heard of people using white glue to adhere cork roadbed to foam, but not sure how wood glue would work holding plastic rail ties to foam board.
Unless you’re never going to use the foam board, track and/or roadbed again, I would stay away from liquid nails. As others have stated, it’s not compatible with all materials and can cause more harm than good.
“Cinque Terre” is a Z scale layout using a sandwich made from 1/8" hardboard and 4" foam as the layout base. The hardboard and the foam are glued together with regular white glue, which takes some time to set, but does not melt the foam. The method used in this built can easily be adapted to N scale layouts.
Here is a video showing the building of the layout. Narration is in German, but the pictures tell how it´s done.
He uses double-sidd tape to fasten the track to the board.
I recently built an N scale shelf layout for a kid with similar space restrictions (he shares a bedroom with his older brother). This switching layout is based on the HO scale Fall Creek Branch display layout that appeared in MR. Using Peco Code 80 small radii turnouts, I was able to build the N scale version of this track plan in only 6 feet (versus 12 feet for the HO scale version). Although I built this layout on a piece of 1/2" Birch plywood that I already had on hand, a commercially made shelf product would work just as well (along with matching shelf brackets). Gluing a piece of 3/16" thick plywood to the rear edge of the shelf provided a backdrop surface and significantly stiffened the plywood shelf. I used Creatology Fun Foam sheets (99 cents each at Michaels) to make the roadbed and glued both the roadbed to the plywood, and track to the roadbed using good old white glue. The wiring is simple, the Peco turnouts don’t require switch machines or ground throws, and since there is only room for a single loco, the layout can be powered by either DC or DCC. Best of all, the Fall Creek Branch article included a complete 12-session operating scheme. Successful completion of Session 12 leaves the layout set up to repeat Session 1! With several industries as well as additional open space, the layout provided lots of modeling potential. Since I wanted the kid to learn to build his own model structures, I included only stand-in structures made by designing buildings using the Evans Design software, printing the building faces on regular printer paper, then gluing them onto sheet styrene cores. They look good enough that he won’t mind keeping them in place until he finds time to build something better.
