When I was a kid I had a 4x8 layout that was almost done and was destroyed by the Whittier earthquake. I never really cared to rebuild and boxed up and through away most of that layout. Many years later I only have a few things left like my SP 84 Olympics Athearn special and a track cleaning car.
For xmas my 8 year wanted a train set so we purchased him one, this started me going again.I am now looking into a new layout some 28 years later and with some new knowledge and a few more dollars on my pocket I’m ready to go.
My thought is to start on a 4x8 layout in my man cave and modularize it so that I can take it out of the house if needed and add sections as I grow it out. The man cave train space is 7x15’ so I have some room to grow. I was reading some articles here and there and found a guy that used regular wooden legs but two layers of 2" insulation board for his deck. He was able to carve into the foam for subterranean tunnels, lakes, rivers, turn tables and such. Through board wiring was easy as he just jabbed a hot screwdriver through the foam. I like this approach but have seen many people forgo the wood base with the foam.
Foam has become a very popular base for model railroaders. It’s lightweight and easy to work with. It does need support under it though as you can see in the photo. I personally like 2" thick as you can carve some nice rivers and other features in to it. As you proceed with your project ask lots of questions and you should be quite successful with the help of the people on this forum. I was.[:)]
Welcome. Since I started again, I have tried most of the systems. In the areas where I have 2 inch foam on a simple wood frame, it has worked well. You don’t need 4 inches. To go lower, just cut a hole and glue some foam scraps underneath. My Quarry shows that. For my high mountains and canyon, I just used stacks of foam on top of a simple frame. I am now a great fan of foam. You can see some pics of what I do by clicking in my sig. I have had a great time. I hope you can as well. The teraforming periods were great fun.
Welcome back to the hobby. I share your pain… my kids got me back into the hobby about 7 years ago. When I lost interest in trains as a teenager, my parents shipped the whole kit and caboodle to some cousins. They shipped it back to me… and my kids were very intrigued when 3 large boxes showed up on the doorstep. The rest is history.
1" and 2" insulating foam panels are very common layout materials. While they are capable of supporting a layout with their own strength, most people use a framework of dimensional lumber below their foam. In addition to providing some additional support, it gives you something to attach wiring, switch motors, etc. to.
The 2’ x 8’ size and tongue and groove construction make them well suited for use in modules.
Foam is easily worked with common household tools (hacksaws, rasps, steak knives, etc.). You can use a hot wire foam cutter, but in creates really nasty (as in toxic) fumes. For the same reason, just use a regular drill bit on low speed to put a hole in it. Don’t poke it with a hot screwdriver.
The raised roadbed you see is spline. I absolutely love the method as it transitions up and down and into curves perfectly. You can bevel the outside edge for a nice profile for ballast and use a rasp for some easy peasy super elevation in curves. It is almost fool proof to get right. Case in point the above pics were my first attempt and it came out as perfect as I could have hoped for.
With spline you caulk the track directly to the spline. No cork or foam roadbed is required.
On the foam I use cork roadbed. It is easy to incorporate both methods. Here you can see where the foam meets up with the spline.
Construction under way. You can see the clamps holding the splines together. It goes together quickly with a glue gun. Just keep moving the last clamp forward.
Here you can see a long unsupported stretch that will be cut out when my big steel bridge goes in. The benchwork looks upside down here as there will be a canyon down almost to the floor going in to the corner. This was inspired by Art Hills layout ( check out his pics ).
If you Google “spline roadbed” more info on the subject will come up than I could ever offer.
In all I have about 85’ of up and down including some double wide for double track for a cost of under $20.00. Much cheaper than manufactured foam inclines.
Welcome to the forums and back to model railroading.
Sounds like you are headed in the right direction. Yuo have done some reading and are asking questions before spending money. You will find that this is a great place to ask questions. I would suggest some more reading on some of the new materials and techiniques before you dive in too deep.
I like working with 2" foam as a base. I would suggest a simple frame underneath of 1"x3" lumber on 16" or 24" centers, just to strengthen it a bit. Also, a facia around the outside, as it does dent rather easily. You can often find scraps at building sites to build your scenic contours with. Small pieces can be used as piles of dirt or coal, so virtually no piece needs be wasted. It does create a bit of a mess if you saw it, but it will clean up. A sharp knife works well. Also, get a can of spray static guard if you are sawing or using a Surform tool (I like the little one with the 1’x1 1/2" blade) and it will keep the foam bits from sticking to you so much.
As for modular, there are articles that you can search for by going to SEARCH OUR COMMINITY, located on the right hand side of this page down a little way or go to the top, light gray line and find RESOURCES, click on Magazine Index and it will refer you to articles on your desired topic. There are also Coming Events and Model Railroad Groups listed there, so you can go to things where you can see some of the things that can be done with the materials talked about in your reading.
Glad to hear there is a budding, young engineer in your household. You will want to get something moving to keep his interest and it sounds like you plan to make a railroad that will grow. A good idea in my opinion.
I have a frame with just foam on top, works great but I do use WS inclines as they are cheap but you only need the starter ones and regular foam to go higher. With cork on top of the inclines I have no problem with the transitions but let me warn you that at the top transition it is much easier to carve the incline a bit than sand the cork. Don’t know why you would need a hot screwdriver as I use 1/16 inch bits in 12" and 6" to drill holes.
Off to Lowes last night to pick up the styrofoam, they had 2’ 4x8 for $25. My wife flipped with “you paid what for foam”, I just laughed and continued on my merry way. I purchased 8 8’ 1x3’s to start the frame and will frame the foam panel as suggested. The lumber is taller than the foam but I’ll route one side of the lumber to eliminate the square and fill the foam side with terrain of some sort. While I work on the frame i’m drawing up the requirements and track plans. I went over to mile 38 in Yorba Linda, Ca. yesterday since we were in the neighborhood. The kids purchased a couple of track peices to keep their interest going and I saw a demo of a big boy and SD-70ACE DCC sound; WOW, so much better than me imagining sounds and being the sounds. I picked up a walthers catalog for some window shopping and structure sizes.
Requirements for the layout include;
A camp ground simulation of Mono Village RV campground near Bridgeport, Ca, the lake and waterfall near this campground. Some fishing, boats and RV’s/tents for the campground.
Walthers lumber mill in the mountains
Basic mine with see through areas in the mountain side to see what the miners are doing.
Small town like Bridgeport, Ca near the campground.
Lots of track
Expandability to feed a switch yard modeled after SP’s Valla Intermodal in Santa Fe Springs, Ca. I used to hang out here when I lived with my grand parents in Whitter. The train switch crews adopted me and showed me how things work and to be safe. They mostly used GP-9’s but would occasionally get SD-45’s, SD-45t-2’s, SD-40’s and the occasional SW-1500. I don’t remember the names of those guys but i’m very grateful to them for all they did for me. <iframe width=“425” height=“350” frameborder=“0” scrolling=“no” marginheight=“0” marginwidth=“0” src="
That’s a really tall order for a 4 x 8, even in N scale. Unless most of your industries / design elements are just hinted at, as in with pictures or just frontage on a backdrop, I really don’t see how you’re going to fit a city area, a mine, an oil well, a lumber mill, and a campground into that area even semi-realistically. Of course, if you don’t care about realism, then that’s a different matter.
I would say you should prioritize these design elements, and maybe go for a smaller area to start with (2x8, maybe), and figure out where you can expand as time and money allow. In HO scale, the Walthers Mountain Lumber Yard takes up about 30" by 18", or roughly a fifth of your layout.
$25 bucks for the extruded foam is a pretty good price. If your wife is serious in her objections though, you may want to discuss future purchases before you make them (wanna guess why I say this).
The secret is planning ahead.[:-,] Prior to construction, every time I went to home depot for household items a 2 x 4 sheet of foam mysteriously ended up in the back of the truck. As a result no huge Home Depot charge ended up on the monthly statement that would require scrutinizing from the chief financial officer.[:-^]
By the time I needed it, I had accumulated a nice little pile of the stuff.[:)]
I’ve been adept over the years at scrounging foam board (and other layout needs) from various contruction sites. In many cases, there are some significantly-sized peices of foam and/or lumber available for the asking.
I make it a point to find the supervisor on-site, tell him what I’m looking for and why, and many times he’ll point towards the scrap pile and say “help yourself”. As long as you are polite and don’t get in the way, ot’s pretty easy to get some useful materials because it saves the construction crew the time and expense of shipping it to the landfill.
I am also a BIG fan of foam insulation board. I’ve used it for years making dioramas and vignettes for all sorts of displays.
For my own layout, I’m building an On30 based on the excellent “Gum Stump and Snowshoe” plan. I’m using 1X4’s for the frame, with 1/2" mdf board on top. I’ll use pink and blue foam for the terrain, mounted onto the mdf.
I’m taking this route because the planned layout will be a 2’X8’ (broken into 2 2X4 modules) designed to travel to train shows and other displays.
i also am scrounging foam board from construction sites. Here in Ontario it’s easy to find all over the place. I have saved a fortune doing this. Bear.
I think that I’m going to need a bigger house to fir the train, Lowe’s is fresh out of room expanders [;)]
Fortunately my wife is used to these projects, though I’m sure a $600 Big Boy would push her over the edge but that’s hat my man cash is for.
I’ll check out some of the construction projects in the area, they’re using it for insulation and trim peices now. Even with the economy they’re still building alot here in Fontana.
Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. Will send updates as I progress here.
Foam is easy to work with. I put together a “temporary” layout, just to have something to run trains on while I mulled over what I wanted to build “for real”. Using the foam was very easy and it let me try out a lot of things without a lot of mess or headaches. I would recommend making some sort of structure out of dimensional lumber to support it underneath. And I wouldn’t recommend going more than a foot under the foam (assuming 2-inch foam) w/o some sort of support. In my case, my benchwork has joists about every 2 feet and I simply laid some 1x2’s and 1x3’s across them to make a continuous support for the foam. Didn’t even bother to secure them. They worked fine for over a year when I took down the temporary layout. I did use gray tape though to secure the foam to the sides of the benchwork for stability. I probably went overboard on that (Heh, you can’t use TOO much duct tape, can ya? And I just pinned the track to the foam using two pins per hole in an ‘X’ configuration so they would grab into the foam. Didn’t have any problems and it made it really easy to expand and to try different track configurations.
And I just pinned the track to the foam using two pins per hole in an ‘X’ configuration so they would grab into the foam. Didn’t have any problems and it made it really easy to expand and to try different track configurations.