Model railway baseboard

[soxboy]

My 7 year old son has got his first Hornby train set for Christmas and we are now looking at making a semi-permanent layout. I've seen a few layouts to cover a 6' X 4' board but I'm wondering what is the best base for it?

Somewhere I saw that 18mm ply was the best as it stands less chance of warping, however a board of at size will weigh a lot. I should add that it will be a board that can rest on trestles (or similar) and then be put away on its side out of the way when not in use.

[lufbramatt]

Would have thought 12mm would be fine, build a frame round the edge underneath from 2"x1" timber to give it some structure and raise it off the floor to make space for any wiring, point motors etc. you end up doing on the bottom of the board in the future.

[soxboy]

lufbramatt said:

Would have thought 12mm would be fine, build a frame round the edge underneath from 2"x1" timber to give it some structure and raise it off the floor to make space for any wiring, point motors etc. you end up doing on the bottom of the board in the future.

That's great, many thanks.

[Starfighter]

Try fibre board rather than ply. It is much easier push track pins in to. A simple 2x1” frame around and strips across make it much easier to deal with wires etc and give some rigidity.

[woodysnr]

Try.


https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/Sundeala-Pinboard-...