Recycled platic for baseboards in the garden

[railwayrod]

My main interest lies in 7mm BR (ex LNWR) indoors and under 7mm+modelling my thread is "The Ramchester Chronicles" (started by my friend Howard).

 

For many years I have had a G scale layout in the garden with the baseboards made from 3 x 1 and 2 x 1 timber covered with ½ inch ply topped with roofing felt. The whole lot supported on 2 x 2 legs and in places by a patio wall. This lasted for neigh on 20 years but last year rot was setting in and the whole lot had to be taken down and burnt. The track - PECO G scale - was salvaged for future use.

 

The question now is - do I repeat what I did before or do I "go modern" and use recycled plastic for the baseboard surface. At a recent Exhibition in Exeter there were samples of this material which looked very interesting and the company concerned gave me a small piece to take home. I looked on their website and their range looked interesting but at the time I did not have plans to rebuild my garden line. I now want to do so but search as I may I cannot find my sample nor the company who were marketing the product.

 

If there is anyone reading this who has experience of recycled plastic for baseboards I would welcome advice and info on where to buy it..

 

Can anyone help?

 

Railwayrod

[raymw]

Not sure if 'stockboard' is what you had seen it's a black sheet material, embossed with a fine crosshatch type pattern. Mole Valley Farmers sell it or some other agri. supplier near you. It is pretty much proof against most things, but a bit 'bendy'. I think the high density foam fascia board type material would be better wrt rigidity.

 

Depending on your future, another 20 years may be enough, as plywood would be better.

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

[PatB]

I gather that recycled plastic sleepers are becoming very popular with the miniature railway/model engineering world and so an enquiry in those circles may be fruitful.

 

Personally, living in Australia as I do, where the sun eats anything containing long chain carbon molecules, I wouldn't ever consider any plastic as truly durable out of doors, but in the rainy old UK I guess deterioration occurs by different means .

[TheQ]

You can get plastic decking boards which is what I'm considering for the outdoor part of my  railway. The garden is an old orchard full of wood worm and anything else that likes to eat wood. Where I had used a normal wooden decking board but forgot to treat the cut end. it rotted / was eaten in less that 10 years.

 The Q

 ps

 Every bit of wood going into the railway shed is being treated after being cut to size.

[trisonic]

Over here where it gets pretty hot and there are plenty of UV rays ,  the various Park Services seem to swear by Trex. It’s even fairly easy to walk on in bare feet.

It ain’t cheap, though.

 

http://www.trex.com/

 

Best, Pete.

[Fat Controller]

Over here where it gets pretty hot and there are plenty of UV rays ,  the various Park Services seem to swear by Trex. It’s even fairly easy to walk on in bare feet.

It ain’t cheap, though.

 

http://www.trex.com/

 

Best, Pete.

It makes good pastry as well.. Oops, wrong Trex...

[railwayrod]

Thanks everyone for this I will follow up your suggestions and see what I can find. If not I will resort to my ½ inch ply again treated with wood preservative and covered in roofing felt. I am now nearly 72 years young so it should last me until I am 90 if I am lucky. After that ... I don't suppose I will care!

[Kubes]

The product you are looking for is called Filcris. There have been a few articles on using it in Garden Rail and 16mm Today.

[railwayrod]

Thanks for this information I have looked on their website and it looks interesting.

[Andy Hayter]

Try as I might I can see no lifetime guarantees (1 year, 5 year, 20 years etc).

As has been pointed out plastics are prone to UV and environmental degradation.   There are things that can be done to minimise the effect - use of UV stabilising compounds (expensive) or heavy dosing with carbon black - but there is no indication what measures if any they are taking.

 

This is not to say that their product is not good and well protected, but if I were buying I would be asking for some form of guarantee or at minimum indicative lifespan.  I would however doubt it would extend to 20 years.

 

Maybe the compromise might be to use this product for the uprights (where ground moisture and rotting are an issue for wood) and felted marine ply for the top surface (where light could rapidly degrade the plastic material) and the timber would act as a parasol for the uprights.

[TheQ]

I was in B&Q last night and they now stock the carbon black plastic composite decking boards there wasn't a price on them though.

[rue_d_etropal]

I came across this thread, because I know Andy H on a French forum. I like to use the same name on each forum i join, so I am recognisable. Mainly to promote my artwork, as I use my artist name, and partly to reduce misunderstanbding, as I have sometimes been unsure who I am in coinversation with, and don't want to drop a clanger. Since moving north, I have become invoilved in local model railway societies and exhibitions so know a lot of people in the hobby. Unfortunately I am very bad at remembering names, assuming I have been told in the first place, such is the informalkity of the hobby.

I have been modelling in various scales and gauges for many years and am still a 16mm society member , but have not had a railway  in garden for many years, it is too wet up north. I still model big scale, but inside in the warmth. Having said that I find my northern friends complain about the weather far more than me.

Anyway I have also been involved in recycling business that was trying out various plastic and wood/plastic mixtures. I do remember seeing an advert for a company producing track supports using recycled plastic and thought it might have been something the company I was doing a workscheme with should look at. Unfortunately there were big problems with the way the company was being run, but at least  I now recognise roadside products from recycled plastic. One problem was that if the plastics were not sorted properly the resultant plastic was useless and it warped badly in heat/sunshine, limited as it is up here. One product they were looking at was a wood/plastic mixture, but some of us had doubts. I have read somewhere that they were considering something similar in Venice, but have not heard anything recently.

I have a house in south of France with strong sunshine and quite a bit of rain. Chestnut is the common wood used in construction and the windows on the sunny wet side have deteriated a bit over 1oo+ years but the windows on the more sheltered side are as good as they over 100 years ago. I think decent wood in the right location will outlive plastic any day, and that is one reason I will never replace them with plastic double glazing as others in the street(possibly against planning regs) have done.

So my recommendation is to use wood outdoors iand to use the best quality. It will pay for itself, and is ultimately easier to maintain.