Newcastle Central OO Gauge

It's amazing how quickly it takes shape in just placing track out!  It's one thing having the plan sat on your PC but until you have it in the flesh it can be so different.  You'll probably want to make small alterations.  I recommend minimum of second radius, particularly if you plan on running peaks or 40's.

 

Choice of underlay is personal choice to me.  Not a must do.  I wanted flat trackbed and will run with all locos sound fitted so felt there was no need for anything under track.  Having said that, cork can be good for representing the slopes of ballast found out on the mainlines.

 

The scenic section of my layout is code 75 and superglued in place.  The rest is code 100 and tacked.  Which method of fixing will you go with?

Yep, designing on the computer only got me so far I appreciate Peco putting templates online, as I did adjust things a little from that. I originally had medium points in a couple of places leading in to station platforms that I changed to curved points after laying down the templates, for example. With something of this size, I can't easily change my mind half way through building it all out, so I'm making as much as possible is thought out ahead of time. I think I'm right at 200ft of track once everything would be laid, so it's taking some planning!

 

I think I do want underlay to help with the ballasting if nothing else, as you say. I decided to go with the Woodlands Scenic Track-Bed since it's readily available and easy to work with. When I did some measurements, I think it will work better for OO gauge than it did on HO. We'll see when I start putting it down.

 

I'm running all Peco code 100 and with the Track-Bed underlay, it will be glued. The underlay is glued to the baseboard, then the track glued to the underlay. Will just need to take care around the points, same as with ballasting. I think it will work out just fine, and that's the recommended approach from the manufacturer, so I don't want to deviate too much from what they recommend - they obviously have a reason for it (other than to sell their glue, maybe...)!

Have you seen the curved Hornby points?  I did consider them for the fiddle yard but did go with all peco in the end, but they do offer a tighter radius should you need it on the south end of the platforms.