So now we have a wooden box which needs to be turned into a model railway.

It's very tempting to start laying track at this stage. But some things need to be done now to properly prepare:

• apply 'knotting' to prevent knots in the wood from oozing and/or weeping resin later (but omit on parts that will be varnished)
  
• paint inside while it's still clean and bare
  
• two coats of varnish outside to help protect from inevitable knocks and scrapes (and to "bring out the natural beauty of your wood" )
  
• add catches and a carrying handle.
  

When all this was done and thoroughly dry - over a week in recent cold and damp weather - at last it was time to lay track. I favour a bed under the track to help deaden noise and provide an even running surface. As it was to hand, 1/16th cork sheet was suitably hacked and trimmed, but foam or felt could be used.

I decided at the planning stage to use set-track for the main curves - both for assembly speed and to help maintain correct geometry in a tight space. On the track plan, pre-formed track parts are depicted in grey, flex-track in blue. All track is therefore PECO code 80 - although code 55 looks much better, it doesn't mate well with the set-track. Other manufacturers' track could be used if it'll fit and meets the need.

Note the short extra piece of flex-track between the two points; this is to avoid cutting into points along the hinge line.

For this small layout, I pre-assembled the main oval, positioned it more or less centrally, then marked the rail at the board joints with permanent marker. The tricky bit was actually cutting track in the 3 marked places. I wanted close rail joints across the box halves, but there just wasn't room to use the razor saw in situ. So the pieces to be cut had to be extracted, sawed in a bench clamp and put back in place. It's quite a fiddly job in N - most ended up within 1 mm of where they should be!

To fix track to the cork, I used Copydex. In days of yore I always used track pins, so for me this was a first, as many people recommend it for track laying. But be warned - it has a powerful piscine pong!

Having roughly laid track on top of the cork, I worked round in sections, gluing track to cork and cork to box, holding it down with heavy items until the glue set (about 20 mins each section).

The remaining point and sidings were added later.

I had assumed some form of rigid anchor would be required to minimise movement of rail ends when the case is closed. However, the glue seems to hold the track very well, so we'll see how it goes...

So all we have to do next is the wiring...