Creating a canal

[GridNorth]

I will be pinning my track to a 12mm baseboard which is all well and good but what is the easiest way of creating a canal and wharf which needs to be slightly lower than the track.  Should I raise the track in that area with foam or dig out 1/8" from the plywood.  I've seen videos on how to create hills etc. but can't find anything that relates to this specific issue.

 

Al

[Gordon A]

Can you cut out the canal section in your baseboard?

 

Gordon

 

[GridNorth]

Well it's 12mm ply, it may be possible but may not turn out so well in practice.  I've seen 5mm modelling foam for sale at Hobbycraft.  Would it be practical to cover the whole,board in that adding layers to build hills and cutting out to create track and my canal? My layout design is mostly flat as it comprises a station at one end a canal and wharf at the other with a small industrial area between.

 

Al

[Hroth]

How big is your canal going to be, narrow or broad?

 

Traditional working narrow canal boats are approximately 70ftx7ft (280mmx28mm@4mm ft), broad canal boats a minimum of 62ftx14ft (248mmx56mm@4mm ft).  A bridge hole will be a minimum of a foot or so wider for either gauges with about 10ft clearance above the average water level.  The canal itself (if you portray the full width) should be a minimum of 35ft(140mm) wide for a narrow boat canal, and a wharf should comfortably take a couple of boats alongside (say 560mm). broad canals are even bigger.

 

Basically, a working narrowboat is as near enough as long as a Mk1 carriage.  Most canals and boats on model railways are impossibly compressed!

Edited November 7, 2019 by Hroth

[GridNorth]

I was in fact thinking of raising the whole surrounding area by a small amount

 

Al

[HLT 0109]

3mm below track level seems very little for a canal in 4mm - only 9 inches.  I am making a layout with a boating lake where the water is only about 18" below track level so i have raised everywhere except the lake on 5mm cork.  However, as you are using a 12mm thick baseboard, you could cut out the canal and fix a piece of wood larger than the hole, underneateh the cutout.  That wiuld give you a 3ft distance from track to water level - unless you reduce that by covering the bottom of the canal to achieve a lesser depth of your choosing.

 

Harold.

[Campaman]

The local canal around here is only about 1ft lower than the tow path along a lot of its length, so you don't need to go too deep into your baseboard.

[DCB]

That is the problem with using baseboards, Open frame is much better for this type of scenery.  If you must use a solid board having the canal at base level with the track raised on a sub frame makes a lot of sense but my experience is flat ply topped baseboards except for hidden sidings are a PITA.  My spare bedroom layout  just had shelf like subframes  bracketed to the wall almost all of them on a 1 in 100 gradient .  Digging 4mm out of a 12mm baseboard with a router or chisel to form a Canal sounds like a nightmare and cutting out the canal with  a Jig saw or similar won't be much fun.

 Ideally the canal will also have embankments and cuttings if it runs straight instead of following the contours of the land

[GridNorth]

I've decided to go for a more straightforward layout by adding height rather than taking it away so I've abandoned the canal idea. This is my first layout so I will endeavor to keep it simple.

 

Al