Bored of Boards

Finally catching up with the posts I've written over the past month.

One of the worst parts of building a model railway has to be the baseboards. Bulky heavy nasty things. Woodworking was always my worst subject.

A few years ago I came across the Wandle Valley railway built in S scale by Mike Watts. His boards are brilliant. It consists of a honeycomb of thin ply within a frame which in turn supports a layer of styrofoam SM.

Since I needed multiple levels an open frame was required and the styrofoam wasn't appropriate. The solution was to blend Mike's honeycomb with Barry Norman's ply girder frame construction and use thin ply for the tops. The results can be seen below.

The three boards are each 59" by 29" allowing them to have sides added for protection when being transported while still staying inside a 5' by 2'6" footprint.

Legs are another big pain in the bum. Rather than fiddle about with bits of wood and cross braces, nuts, bolts, lengths of string, etc, etc, etc, I simply picked up a couple of pairs of Stanley folding saw horses.

The beauty of these are they have pre-formed holes in the top. These holes are perfect for mounting a wood spacers of varying thicknesses. This in turn allows me to adjust the height of the layout. With no spacer the board tops are 34" above the floor. By adding a spacer this height can be boosted to 42"

My woodworking still sucks but these are solid, level, and weigh in at less than 5kg each. Once the track and scenery are added the whole layout will still weigh less than 20kg. (not including the legs) All I need to do now is build the rest of it.

Not So Grand Designs

In a previous life I had a job that could be best described as mind numbingly dull. To pass the time and stop what passes for my brain from mutating into a cauliflower I spent many hours doodling layout designs and track plans on bits of scrap paper. None of these ever saw the light of day but it did keep me sane.

Trying to come up with a layout plan that would meet my desires but still fit in a garage, nearly did the opposite.

For this as yet un-named layout the following criteria were specified:

• 15'by 2'6" was the max space available.


• Minimum handling of stock, so no cassettes for storage.


• No space for a sector plate, so the fiddleyard would have to be incorporated into the 15' by 2'6" footprint.


• Adjustable height to make construction easier, but so it could be elevated for exhibitions.


• Lightweight boards and no bloody screws,bolts, or other bits of hardware needed to setup or dismantle.


• Fully DCC operated (as have my past several projects have been) but with a twist. This time the addition of a laptop to allow one operator to work as a signalman. All points and signals to be interlocked.

For the layout itself, its planned as Southern region in the mid 1950's. The track plan shows what is really 2 layouts in one. First there is a semi self contained shunting puzzle which will be a working coal facility. This will allow the layout to have something moving at all times during exhibitions. One of the most common gripes heard when wandering about a show is 'nothing is moving'. The other half of the layout is a conventional terminus based on a slightly twisted Swanage, with an additional siding serving a canal.

These days there are all sorts of books on layout designs and software packages for designing layouts. Being a tight arse I decided to try Right Track from Atlas. Its a free download. After tying my self in knots with its flex-track options, I finally came to grips with it. The image is taken from its 3-d view. Still can't figure out why some of the track is black and some grey. Oh well, it beats doodling on little notepads and beer mats.

Finally back on track

After a month of mucking about with ISP changes, work commitments, and weekends away, its time to get down business.