so I’m planning my layout, my question to you is what do you think is the best table or base for a new layout, Im wanting to learn from the experiences of others, I want these to be relatively easy to construct , they will be going into my basement, someday I may consider adding another level and a helix if I expand. your thoughts?
What is best for one layout may be entirely inappropriate for another. If you are going to model Nebraska or the flat part of West Texas, you can get by with any kind of solid table top. OTOH, if you want to include Donner Pass or the Tehachapi Loop in your track plan, cookie cut roadbed supported by an L-girder mainframe would be a much better choice.
I know that I haven’t been very helpful, but, without knowing what kind of countryside you’re planning and how it is supposed to fit into your available space, that’s about the best I can do.
For the record, my own layout is set in mountainous Central Japan, with several heavy grades and almost no level space near the bottoms of the steep-sided valleys. My benchwork is made from steel stud material, in classic Westcott L-girder fashion - necessary since there are as many as five layers of hidden and visible track intertwined with the steel. In its present, incomplete state it resembles an amusement park ride without the enclosing skin.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I guess I should have a better idea regarding terrain, I’ll do more planning, is their a “standard” height off the ground that most people use, I’m 6’2" if that needs to be taken into account
I get a sense from your posts that this is your 1st layout. As you are learning, and somebody else said better than I, model railroading (especially a home layout) is an intensely personal hobby. Understanding your own vision, preferences, and prejudices is key to having fun with the hobby. If you try to achieve somebody else’s vision or comply with their preferences and prejudices, you will never be as happy as when satisfying yourself.
If this indeed is a first layout, I strongly urge you to start with a small enough subset that experimentation rework won’t detract from developing your own preferred methods and choices.
Using myself as an example, I am building a moveable 4x6 to explore a number of factors before committing to the 8x10 total room layout. Some of the things I hope to learn and use the 4x6 for:
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is a rail height of 60-64" practical for me? This height is based on gaining space by putting my modeling workbench and computer workstation under the layout.
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are 24" wide aisles practical with a layout that high and my girth? The trade-off is between the 24" aisles and a donut configuration (I hate duckunders, liftouts, hinged sectins, etc).
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is 18" radius for HO and 16" for HOn3 really practical for my desired level of detail on 19th Century prototype equipment?
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what kind of leg bracing works while still leaving room for the workbench and workstation?
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is there any real benefit to using extruded foam for the type of grades and scenery I am envisioning?
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a test track for locomotives I am bashing and/or building from kits. Which begs the question - do I have the manual dexterity, skill, and eyesight to do extensive reworking of tiny HOn3 locos?
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is the whole HO/HOn3 with inte
thanks for the reply youve given me alot to think about, I a going to visit some hobby shops to get advice, I think Ill set up a smaller track to learn the way as you suggest
I’m at a similar stage - got the basement cleared out and waterproofed last year. Since then I’ve been upgrading the wiring (used to be an electrician), getting storage and workbench areas organized, cleaning out the dusty rafters, reading MR and the forum here, and planning. This weekend I built a little cardboard model of the first section just to get a 3-D idea, since I’m not really able to visualize designs in my head.
Seems pretty clear that I definitely need to do a thorough rafter cleaning and paint that concrete before starting the benchwork. Which is probably going to be L-girder, joists and risers. (I might spray paint the joists with flat black, I’ve seen that in some houses and it looks pretty nice - this house is about 80 years old but the woods in good share, but pretty grungy).
My Fathers Day hints paid off too - got a nice Dremel 400XPR.
Well, that was a lot of digression. The point is, I’ve got a lot of space to work with and my initial impulse was for some pretty ambitious plans. But knowing that I haven’t done much modelling since a 4x8 about 20 years ago, and that I’m still working full time (although getting the youngest kid off to college does free up some leisure), I’m starting with a single level section about 15 x 4.
Seems you’ve done your homework and off to a good start with the space anyway.
Once a basic trackplan is decided on, I would recommend wiring for lighting/ recpticles. (For PhillyBill)As a former electrician, you will most likely have figured to have all the proper home runs and circuits for lighting and switched recepticles for any layout power. Frame any perimeter stud walls and consider a ceiling material. Older homes like this usually have a lower clearance on the main girder (beam) and floor joists. A dropped ceiling would be my choice, but many times are not practical if you don’t have the joist height. I would only Drywall the rafters (ceiling) as last choice unless there is no water/ heat pipes or areas that need access. If the house is forced hot air w/ various old trunk/ ducts, some relocation or modifications can be done to gain height also. I have done this on many ocasions not only for layouts, but to gain usable basement space.
Sounds like a general trackplan would be next.
There are many forum members that are glad to help as you proceed. Welcome back to the hobby.
Read up on spline-roadbeds. I believe this is my next iteration for my basement layout. I have tried plywood and foam and though they worked OK, I was just not satisfied.
In the end, a little planning goes a long way! A small layout is a good idea… just leave room and you will most certainly want to expand.
Peter
There is a lot of excellent advice so far.
Yes, it is personal, and made so because we each have to live our “lives” in the hobby. We’ll all get our knees scraped, a chipped tooth, touch the stove to establishe for certain that Mom isn’t lying to us…you know…the usual. But the experience is crucial to teaching each of us what we like, whether we’re willing to do what it takes to get it, and if we make good choices when it’s all said and done.
A first layout is almost always a bit of a disappointment. But you have to buiild the first. You make notes. When you build the second, your notes remind you what not to do…ever again! Keep notes!
A flat table-type is easy…anyone can put a sheet of ply, or even two or three cut up, to make a simple track plan. It may even be fun and last you a couple of years if you have enough involvement and variety. The other types take more learning. You should be brave and experiment with a couple of techniques to assure yourself that it is all doable. Splines were mentioned. That is what I used for my current, second ever, layout. I would seriously use them again. I like making them, and they work realy well. But in my notes I have reminded myself to be careful with the top surface finishing. They take care to avoid dips that the tracks will have, especially on one rail, that will cause longer engines to derail if on a curve less than 60" radius.
If you do use cookie cutter or splines, what goes in between them…the terrain? You’ll need to create a cardboard latice, or use aluminum window screen, or J-Cloth or newspaper covered with a goop. I am not sure everyone can learn how to do this at the same time they are trying to master track planning. Some undoubtedly can, but not very many.
And that is why you should start reasonably, and
Chief:
I like open-grid benchwork with track laid on whatever I have handy…usually 1x3 boards, mitered for the curves, with odd pieces of plywood here and there. For some reason, every place I live seems to have ugly ceiling tile, and since I make a habit of tearing this down, the basement is always full of surplus furring strips. Subroadbed!
(N. B. Ceiling tile does not work terribly well as a substitute for Homasote. I tried it, but it’s softer and easy to damage.)
HOWEVER…my current railroad is not built this way; it’s on a flat sheet of CDX plywood. This let me use snap-track as an analog trackplan computer, laying them loosely and rearranging, then running trains, to get what I wanted. Some hills on top break up the plywood plains pretty well; it’s a compact track plan, anyway, so I need a lot of flat space. This has been a good fit. I really didn’t have a lot of free time, and I was getting badly bogged down in the planning stages. Analysis paralysis.
I have also used OSB for flat tops. It’s cheap and strong, and I think it would be great under foam, and it worked well for a flat top. OSB gets no respect, but once it’s covered up with scenery, the only one who knows it’s there is you! I don’t think I would use it for open-grid roadbed, however. If it gets wet, it tends to swell near the edges…the glue is waterproof, but of course wood itself is not. 
Obviously this is no big deal on a flat top, and I don’t honestly know if the water used in scenic work would be enough to damage anything, because I haven’t tested it. I’ve just left pieces out in the rain for long periods.
The Brits seem to like MDF. I’ve used this for storage shelves. It seems like it could work as a layout base.
I wonder if any intrepid modeler would be bold enough to rip O