Table Top Material?

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C

COfox

New Member
Hello from Colorado! So, a quick background to introduce myself (1st post) to you all. I had an HO set about 20 years ago built with my dad, nothing fancy, just a cheap set on plywood, some buildings, styrofoam tunnel etc.

Now I'm a father myself and my son (5 y.o.) is addicted to trains. Luckily for us we live near the Golden Railroad Museum and it's a short drive to Caboose Hobbies. Anyway, last week I bought him (or was it for me?) an Athern Iron Horse Express HO set....he loves it...so do I. :rolleyes:

For Christmas I want to expand the kit and put it on a table for him since now it's on the floor of his bedroom. Of course, all I have is a 4' x 8' plan that I want to try. I picked up Atlas' book #9 for track plans. What I have available is two 4' x 8' pieces of sheet-rock/dry-wall. So finally, after all that, my question is:

Is sheet-rock a good material for a train set?

Would I, or should I screw this on top of a piece of plywood? The reason I want to use the sheet-rock is that I already had two sheets of it in the garage doing nothing. I figure I could chisel/carve down into it for streams, rivers, ditches etc. This thing will be staying in the garage since we have no room in the house.

I read some forum topics on here about tacking foam-board on top of plywood, which I hadn't thought of but seems appealing too.

Thanks for any tips/advice for yet another newby! :o
 
I think there are some general concerns about drywall and moisture. It's probably not the recommended base material. If you are planning to use plywood, I would not recomment adding drywall on top of the plywood. If you just want to cut shallow ditches, rivers, ponds, etc. All you really need is a 1/2" sheet of foam. That shouldn't too expensive. AND it will be much easier to work with than 5/8" or 1/2" drywall.

I just finished my benchwork and plan to use 2" foam insulation for my base. To save $$ I used wood from appliance packing crates (free) for most of my benchwork. I did buy some new 2x4s for the main frame and legs, but all of my 'floor joists' are recycled lumber.


By the way, I was in Denver last year for a conference and I was able to visit Caboose Hobbies. You are lucky to have a place like that close by.

Doug
 
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Hello neighbor, welcome to the forums. I live in Broomfield, and I go to Caboose Hobbies all the time.

Go get some of the pink builders extruded foam, (not the white crumbly stuff), at Home Depot. And just use Liguid Nails for Projects safe with foam. Glue that to the plywood. Then get some Cork roadbed they have at Caboose, and glue that down with some cheap Acrylic Latex caulk. Then glue the track down on top of the cork roadbed with the same caulk.

This combination will make it quiet for running trains, and keeps the track nice and solid. No need for the tiny little nails.
 
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It cuts the weight down in a huge way too. Y ou can also laminate (later on) additional layers to make berms and hills. The pink stuff is easy to carve. The scenery here started as pink foam in 2-inch thick layers.
 
Welcome aboard!! Are you in Golden? I'm in Lakewood, not too far from the museum myself. If you'd like, I have a 4x10' table top with a bunch of track already down (will need some repair) we bought for my youngest and then determined it was too big for his room. If you want it, it's yours. It's just hanging out in my garage, waiting for someone to come along.
 
Wow! Thank you all for the warm welcome! I was afraid too that the drywall, plus plywood would be way too heavy if I had to move it around.

ianacole, thank you so much for the offer! I'm definitely interested in that. I live up on the Peak-to-Peak highway near Rollinsville in Gilpin county, but I work in downtown Golden. I just got back from Caboose Hobbies as a matter of fact. Just found the place a week ago yesterday and I've been there 4 times already!

I have a Dakota pick-up that might handle that table. It only has a 6.5' bed, but I'm sure it could hang out a bit. Anyway, I'd be interested in stopping by to look at it sometime if that's o.k. Send me a private message if you want with info on how to find you. Thanks again everyone! :D
 
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