A lack of space has forced me to start thinking of a way to build a decent model railway that can be folded away when not in use.
I was walking through B&Q yesterday when something caught my eye...a
2'x6' pasting table with extra legs to provide stability. I then had a lightbulb moment - two of them in an L-shape would fit perfectly in my room and (with a bit of care when laying track) can easily be folded away when not in use. The construction would appear to be hardboard on top of a...er..."normal" wood frame.
So here's the questions:
1) Has anyone had any experience of using sturdy pasting tables as baseboards? If so, have they been any good? How easy was it to overcome laying rails over the "snap" in the middle?
2) Can anyone point me in the direction of a book of plans that contains L-shaped layouts? Obviously it would involve a fiddle yard of some description, but I think I've reached the age (20) where I want to be involved with the layout and not just watch the trains go round and round!
Over these past many years I have found that this type of hardboard surfaced paste board warps in no time. The idea is sound so maybe the hardboard could be removed and replaced with 3mm ply or better still 5mm.
As your absolute max curve = 2 ft radius I assume that you are contemplating N gauge?
Hmmm...that's an idea. And the construction of the table would make it manageable - it only appears to be pins that's holding the hardboard in place.
As for the gauge - wouldn't 00 be OK? I've got a substantial amount of track and stock from an old layout that I'm wanting to recycle to reduce costs (and to be honest, is the only gauge I've ever known!). I'm not wanting to create a loop - the only major curve involved would be to turn into the fiddle yard.
Having said that, way from the curve radius issue, would N be better anyway from the point of view of being able to fit more in?
Another consideration would be the hinged join in these tables. Any time I've used one, it always assumes a shallow 'V' shape which is no big deal when pasting paper, but could cause some problems with track joins and unintended gradients :-)
Also the general construction is very flimsy and it would be difficult to use the hinge facility since the surfaces meet when the table is closed. You really want hinges mounted on raising blocks so that there is clearance at least for track and low structures.
If you've got the additional room, look at using two cheap 6' 6" x 2'
6" doors on cheap trestles which will give you a better base which is 'quick and dirty'. Another possibility for support is to hinge the baseboards to the wall so that they can be put up for storage, or dropped down onto legs for running. the boards have to be hinged some distance from the wall to give room for structures on the layout. Or use something like 12mm MDF with a minimal amount of 2" x 1" bracing longitudinally either stood on trestles or hinged to the wall. You might try chipboard as well. Both MDF and chipboard should be sealed with primer since they react unfavourably to water, and you might want to use water on the baseboard for scenic treatments, etc.
But you might want to look at building better baseboards. I build mine from thin ply sheet and you can put them together quite quickly. I've got a web site which shows how I built some using bandage and PVA to make the joins and it didn't require much expertise in carpentry.
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I used bandage + PVA on the first board, and No More Nails on the second board - both of which worked. But I've just built a third board and used 50mm self adhesive plasterer's webbing tape from B&Q instead of bandage with Unibond PVA, and that has worked very well.
because I was wanting to use the boards 'upside down', I cut out the base sheet to allow access, but if you want to use them sheet side up, then you don't have to cut holes in the sheet. The finished boards are quite light and easily carried around. This is a big advantage if you intend to move things single handed. You've no idea how unwieldy a largish, heavy baseboard can be, especially when its got track, buildings and scenery on it that have to be protected :-)
I'm currently building a OO-gauge branch line terminus to fiddle yard layout using 18in wide boards measuring 6ft 3in x 9ft 6in ovarall, with the three road fiddle yard on the shorter section. The minimum radius is over 3ft and I'm using Peco Code 75 medium (36in) radius or curved points throughout.
My only problem so far is that I'm going to need a 12in (removable) extension to the fiddle yard to allow me to run three (Mk1) coach trains, but apart from that the dimensions do not see terribly far adrift from your original concept.
Other than the fiddle yard extension the other boards will sit permanently above the bookcases and other storage space in my small study, which also has to accodate the desk on which my computer and film scanner sits.
Not ideal I know, but the best I can do as an interim measure whilst I consider O-gauge in the garden or a loft conversion.
If your "L" is in a walled corner then it is possible to fit a simple batten of pine horizontally to each wall to support and locate your tables.( this fights the "Vee" problem and stabilises the vertical. Typically cut off 4mm diam flat head nails just pushed into pre-drilled holes enable easy location , mounting and removal. This would keep it simple. I am also a fan of using building felt as a surface ( used as sound proofing under parquet). I glue this down with wood glue. Track and accessories together with household plaster and water based paints have proved durable and effective on such a surface ( it soaks in and makes a good bond) but can be removed for re-design ( correction of cockups) fairly easily and in a realistic mini civil engineering manner!
If you are to use OO then a few hours with a compass set at typical small point radius (scaled of course) will enable you to see the possibilities quickly and at the cost of just paper and hot neurons. Look for 60mm centre to centre between adjacent tracks. To get greater than 2ft radius you will have to use X crossings or sacrifice a lot of space. I have often made paper cut outs of point and track which I have then laid out on the floor.
Don't bother. Yes pasting tables are cheap. They are meant to last long enough to paper a room. There isn't a way to keep them stable from warping and twisting, so your layout will resemble an earthquake area within days.
You can build pack-away or folding baseboards. They can be very light. You can use materials such as foamboard with a little re-inforcing at the edges to make it super-light. They can align very accurately if you use appropriate pegs/dowels to align things.
If the boards have an integral back scene, then joining along the base plus the top of the back scene will result in a three-point fixing, which is sufficiently stable to avoid flexing of the board over the joint.
Others have suggested possibles.
I'd also suggest a wander over to the micro layout website at
The maximum radius is a lot more than that. The curve doesn't have to be contained within the width of one baseboard; that's the advantage of an L-shaped layout. The actual maximum is closer to 4 ft.
If you have the interest, there is always the Templot
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program, which though aimed at designing scale plans, could also be used for simpler overall planning. In particular it prints out templates that can be laid out on boards to see how stuff fits together.
Have you considered using a spiral with the fiddle yard underneath? White Rose Modelworks 01677422444 do them They advertise in Railway Modeller as well. Thought about going down that road myself but managed to acquireextra space on tye same level
I would suggest that you forget about the L-shape and build a straight layout in the space you have on the long side - 8' x 2'. The problem with going round the corner is that a curve of anywhere decent radius, say 30" as a min, is going to take up so much of the length that there is no space left for pointwork and a reasonable length of run. Using a sharper corner radius makes it impossible to include any pointwork on the curve, and using an easier radius takes up all the length.
Also, a 90-degree sharp curve looks so much like a train set that it's difficult to devise a scenic treatment which looks at all realistic. It may be worth putting up with that if it means you can achieve a continuous run, or you have space to hide the curve, but not otherwise.
A better answer is to use the side table as storage for cassettes instead of a fiddle yard. The main layout is then mainly straight and can use the full length with only a small area needed behind scenery on one side where the cassettes are connected on.
As an extreme example of this idea, have a look at a plan called "Mawley Oak" on this page:
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(Long page - scroll 2/3rds of the way down or Ctrl-F on mawley.)
It was designed for 0 gauge, but if implemented in 00 it would fit in a space only 5' x 1'. You have more than 3 times that area, so the basic idea could be expanded to a very satisfactory small layout in your available space, with convenient cassette storage to one side.
Many folks dislike cassettes, but they do make a good alternative to a fiddle yard when space for pointwork is tight.
It's length that is the issue, not area. The OP wants an L shape using two 6' table which implies the maximum length he has is 8' for a straight run. Still longer than the requirement you give but a lot less than 3 times.
If he has the time to invest in the learning curve, and is not planning to hand build the track, then he would be better with layout planning software like XTrkCad (free), rather than track design software.
I agree. My Templot track design software is intended for folks who
*build their own track*. I always steer those looking to do layout design with ready-made commercial track to either XTrkCad (2D) or
3rd PlanIt (3D) instead.
As regards the learning curve, I have re-published the XTrkCad Help file in a fully indexed and searchable form at:
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