Thickness of foam bed?

[lgh2000]

Hi I will be starting a new layout this weekend and I wanted to know what is usually a good choice of thickness of styrafoam would be and what you guys use for a ho layout?

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Assuming your speaking of using the styrofoam for scenery rather than road bed use what ever you can find though the extruded pink or blue is by far better that the cheap beadboard,but even that will work if it's all you have or can afford.:
For roadbed I preferr the Atlas cork roadbed for its ease of use, flexibility and cost effectiveness,It's also qiute good for sound deading so long as there are no track nails run through it to the sub roadbed...

 

[lgh2000]

Yeah thanks I meant for Scenery I'll post some pics of my layout when I start getting it built though. I'm going to start with a simple 4x8 and a side staging yard modern age.

 

[UP2CSX]

Try for 2" thick Styrofoam. It's the pink or blue dense foam used for home insulation. The white stuff most people call Styrofoam is actually beadboard and nearly useless for layout underlayment or scenery. Getting 2" thick Styrofoam makes it easier and more realistic when you carve below grade features like streams and ponds.

 

[Santa Fe Jack]

Here's something to consider if you intend to mount things like switch machines to the foam base: I found that having a 1"-thick layer of foam on top, with one or two (max) layers of foam below, makes for a nice way to mount Tortoise machines (see the writeup on my website -- link in the sig.) I think the ideal setup would be two 1"-thick foam boards sandwiched together. Then you have a place to make the mounting slot for the Tortoise switch machine, and can still easily access the control wire mechanics.

 

[leghome]

On my layout I had a lot of 3/4" plywood laying around so I cut it into 5" strips to make a frame for the pink board to lay on. The five inches gave a place to drill holes and run the wiring through. I used 1 1/2" foam and glued it to the subframe with Liquid Nails for Projects(the blue stuff) and have been very happy with the results. The plywood made a very sturdy and light weight frame and of course the foam weighs very little. If I ever move I made in five modules so I can take it apart for the move I hope to never make.

 

[lgh2000]

Shot with COOLPIX S550 at 2009-05-16
Pic of what I have started anyway shows the foam we got in the background and what I will have for my yard. I will replace some of the turnouts and track since most of it is pretty old and well used by my previous crappy layouts. This is my first attempt at a complete layout so I'm a novice at some things so I could use some good input on this.