Tomathee

To mop up from the previous thread, leg braces awkward due to differing methods depending on if it meets up with the framing or not, and if I go through the thinner edge of the leg into the brace or have to go through the brace into the leg on the thicker side. Seems to have been worth it as they have been solid so far. Not sure if horizontal bars are along the correct sides, might try the leg braces first next time and see if they do the job by themselves. Next up was positioning, as you'll see the room isn't square, leaving a triangle of unused space in the far corner, railway or otherwise. It's no small deal, there's a rough plan further down but it's approx half of a 4'x2', or half of the smaller baseboard previously built. I had two options, both of which left the far corner empty. It came down to which appeared to take up less space, which reduced potential friction from the domestic authorities. The far corner would be perfect for additional railway as it wouldn't cost any extra space into the room, however with the current board width it is unreachable to do any work with any barely in the case of basic rescuing derailments. I've got a few ideas but they'll have to wait for an if/when we expand and get an open centre and cut down the reach. The boards were held together with the same coach bolts as before, with a clamp and some wood holding them level whilst tightening them. I've also stopped using the latches and taken off the far one so the board can go a bit closer to the wall. They're a good idea but I didn't find it easy to get them in so they'd hold the boards tight enough, probably good as a joint effort with another method of joining boards for temporary setups though. Next up was to get a basic layout going again, which was duly done As well as the set we'd given him for Christmas one of his great uncles had added another starter set along with two track packs, so there was soon demand to add in all of that. I duly complied, wanting to use the trackmat needed some jiggery pokery as the marked out plan doesn't quite fit on a board this size. It was easily fixed through and the mat glued down, annoying bubbles included despite various attempts at rolling and flattening. Which brings me to the end of the board and track section with version 1 as above. As of today that hasn't changed in the two months since I got to that stage. Nearly all of the time I've had for modelling since has been spent bringing old locos back to life, which I might do as the next post. Other bits of note are some grass mat in the corners and a card kit of a cottage, which I'll put together with some of the ideas I've been having on what to do next. Thanks as ever for reading

Don't like nitpicking but poor email from rails to add City of Edinburgh to the £129.50 deal. Advertised as City of Birmingham in the title and Duchess of Edinburgh in the blurb... Available until noon tomorrow by the way

Between my following the link to the donation page at £92k and faffing to guess and eventually reset my password it had jumped to £102k, lo and behold Sir Rod just beat me to it, fair play to him!

Onwards with the backlog of photos and notes.... This part I'll cover putting the temporary Christmas layout (which I've called version 0) on to legs (v0.5) and if I'm still awake tweaking it to the current plan as it stands today (v1). If I can get that far then I'm up to date with the layout and there's just a few side pieces to write up my ramblings on, then I can start looking to the future in earnest. With the end of Christmas and the lounge returning to its normal furniture arrangement the layout didn't really have the space without encroaching on seating space. It had been a definite success and stayed in place for the duration, rather than the anticipated need to move it out of the way a few times to allow other activities. Here is its next temporary home whilst I planned how to add legs. It now sits in the spare room, which includes the standard junk and fruits of hoarding. One benefit of the layout being floor-bound for a number of weeks was forcing some decluttering, however this promptly halted once the extra space under the newly raised layout came into existence... I had spent some time looking into the legs and hadn't really found a perfect solution. Many were geared towards portability which I didn't need, or trestle supports which I wasn't sure would take the potential leaning and handling of a four year old. So I ended up largely making it up as I went along. Obviously starting with the legs, then a horizontal between the legs and then some diagonal bracing between the legs and board/frame. Testing as I went along I did see the difference in stability through each stage and I think this part I'd keep the majority of the idea for any future board construction as it is solid. I wanted to make them both as complete 'tables' so they could stand alone if I had to move them around the room, or if I expand and as I think will happen the larger board is cut down to smaller lengths. Starting with the larger board I added the legs, For these I used 38x63mm CLS. It seemed to work out cheaper than other options and the rounded edges I think are nicer. Square edges on the frame are a must I think, to help with keeping it square and to avoid a 'cranny' all the way around but the legs don't have that requirement. I used more 50mm screws here, figured I should use two from each side to reduce any movement, the formation in the second pic seemed the only way to avoid any running into each other. As expected - very wobbly. Next up was the horizontals. This is where my technical knowledge reaches its limit, most things I read/saw had two, however it wasn't much sturdier than without any, so it seemed like four would be better. However I didn't really want to do that as it would hinder access to the much needed storage underneath, so I went with two and looked at another idea I had bubbling around, which I hadn't gone into too far as I knew it would be more difficult than if these did the job. These are from the same 27x44mm used for the board frame, I had plenty left over and the wood for the legs was probably too thick to use here. So the next thing I wanted to add was bracing between the legs and frame/board. I had been wondering if the last step would make it stable enough as this needed angled cuts and more accurate measurement and so on. Because I have no faith in my skills of description I'll put a photo of the end stage and work backwards; I started with one brace on each corner, can't remember if it was the type on the left or right hand side, whichever was opposite direction to the horizontals from earlier. This stopped any wobbling in the direction they were installed however some remained in the other (making me further question the benefit of the horizontal bars). Usual 27x44mm, on the right hand brace there are two screws through the leg into it, at the top there are two down through the baseboard into it, one through the outside of the frame and one through the inside brace, so its held in place from three sides. These were a bit of a pain to get right using a saw and mitre block, the bottom was fine as its a single line but at the top there are two, and shaving a bit from one side was impacting on the other, so it took a lot of trial and error, and although I could use a rough template each one was slightly different. The left side was a bit easier as it doesn't butt up to the inside frame and need the extra flat edge creating with the mitre, I could have done it that way but the bottom joint with the leg would have been quite far down and the brace take up a lot of space, causing the previous mentioned issue of access to underneath. These had their own issue that they were on the thicker side of the legs, rather than using excessively long screws I opted to drill and countersink through the brace into the leg. With various bits held in place with clamps I was able to get things screws in relatively well aligned. A selection of photos follow to show various stages... I decided to replicate this for the smaller board as far as possible, there might have been different requirements given the smaller area and weight but I'm not in a position to do any sort of workings on what is required and how that varied from one of these boards to the other. I followed a similar method, a couple of changes being the horizontals along the shorter side, and the braces were able to be set such that one side joined to the frame and the other joined with its opposing number on the other side without blocking too much of the underside. Some photos to illustrate, they paint much more than my poorly written words; Going to call it a day for now, these seem to take longer than expected to write out. Back soon, thanks for reading if you've lasted this long

A word on the excellent service from the ebay seller in my original link. I ordered on Sunday night and they had arrived Wednesday morning, including a bank holiday. Wasn't able to find a similar part anywhere, if I got desperate I could have probably used regular wire and created a join, which would have meant buying a soldering iron and so on. After a loose fit test run to make sure I was on the right track I had to slightly widen one of the connectors to fit on the non-power bogie. It's a snug fit but impossible without the adjustment. Then it was just a case of joining the wires and putting the body back on. Fortunately the connectors are such that they hold together without any soldering or other thought needing to be put towards joining them. If/when I get a soldering iron I might go back to it and solder the join, or remove the connectors to keep as spares and join the bare wires. For now it is as shown with tape wrapped around to avoid and trouble. Thanks again for reading and the help

Thanks Pete, correct on the rubber tyres. I searched all the Class 37 and 47 service sheets you suggested but none had a similar setup or end connectors. I even went as far as browsing all of the service sheets for any that sounded like a loco with two bogies that might need a similar cable but no joy. I ended up on what must be an old reference service sheet on a third party site which was for a Class 91 (here for the trail - http://www.hornbyguide.com/service_sheet_details.asp?sheetid=79). This included a cable with the same part number as that in the ebay link I put in the original post (X1367), however the other cable shown wasn't available anywhere and the available one seems the shorter of the two and possibly not long enough to go from bogie to bogie as it was originally intended to go from bogie to the roof. So I've ordered two, assuming I'll be able to just join the middle up and wrap some tape around it so it doesn't come into contact with anything it shouldn't. Will report back on progress. Cheers again

Hi folks, new week new problem. Son has rescued another old loco from his grandparents that he expects resurrecting to full working order. I've replaced the springs and brushes and the motor works when contact is made directly, however not when I try and power it through the track. Looking at the service sheets 208B seems the correct one - https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/downloads/view/download/item/443 . I believe it is the older 'produced in the UK until December 98' page rather than the 'China from January 99'. Now I vaguely remember a cable inside however at some stage during childhood that has since disappeared (along with the springs, hence replacing them before I could even test anything else. I suspect me or brother have bodged a previous repair job in our junior years). The pantograph also broke off long ago, however I don't remember it ever being one that raised, rather a moulded in the lowered position plastic one, but there was a switch on the roof (it was part of a trainset so I assume a more basic version?). Given that it doesn't and never has picked up power through a pantograph I'm not sure which route to go. The sheet seems to show a cable from the non-power bogie to the pantograph and another from that to the power bogie, however there is nothing left in the roof for them to connect to, metallic or otherwise. I'm also unsure how power would go through the non-power bogie, as it just seems to be a solid lump, unless the whole thing conducts electricity? Easiest way I guess would be if the bogie with the motor did it all without a cable but I assume that's not possible. Naturally the pantograph leads (X8278) referred to on the sheet aren't available anywhere. I found this which looks like it would fit however is just one cable - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X1367-Hornby-TRIANG-PANTOGRAPH-WIRE-CLASS-86-90-91-R7B/152352527045?epid=2102115449&hash=item2378eb12c5:g:RVsAAOSwImRYTcOh . Would that work as a direct link from the non-power bogie to one of the 'thingys holding the spring in place' (if I follow where a cable went to on the James loco), and avoid the need to have two cables that as mentioned will have nothing in the roof to connect to? Also there may be what looks like a capacitor missing, though I'm not sure and have no clue if this is part of the problem or should be in place. Again not available anywhere and I assume they have some value that will vary that I have no clue on, so advice appreciated as that sort of thing is even more out of my comfort zone than replacing springs and oiling etc. I've added a couple of pics below that might help with my rambling explanation... Many thanks Tom

Thank you all for the kind words. The carpentry is ok if I have a clear set of instructions and I'd be happy to build more boards, there were many threads on here and I asked a set of questions before starting so I had a good idea of how, it's areas such as distance between bracing, to not leave it too weak or go overboard with too much, that I needed the guidance on. And it was somewhere on here that i had the suggestion of building the frame onto the board, rather than trying to build the frame and add the board later, as it likely wouldn't have been as good a fit given my skill level. As part of the next update when I get round to it I'll include the legs, which I've possibly over-engineered because I didn't have a lot to go on and had to think of mostly for myself, many of the guides are suited for portable or exhibition layouts which I didn't need to account for. Getting something running is/was a must, a four year old soon loses interest when nothing is happening and I think either no or a very short downtime is going to be a leading priority for any work that requires a halt to trains running. Likewise as long as this is being done 'for him' (I'll cross the bridge of what happens if/when he loses interest if/when I get to it regards disposal, downsizing and so on) then continuous run is another hard and fast rule for future planning. I've been clearing space and trying to space out ideas in my head, although at the moment the majority of any time I get for layout related work is going on resurrecting the old locos me and my brother had, which he keeps finding at my mothers house and bringing home in anticipation. I haven't really come up with a prototype, although it's always on my mind. Mallard is his favourite in LNER blue, which I'm weighing up with not particularly liking the teak coaches that I'd be budgeting for before I limited to that area. If it was up to me I think I'd go for a fictional/fantasy setup of former LMS/LNER in BR colours as I think I could live without the other two. However given what is being brought home for me to fix up I don't think it will come anywhere close, last week it was oiling a James, this week I've been ordering new brushes for a Class 91.... On the name I went with Doddington, drawn from Great Doddington, which I either drive home through or is on one of my running routes, however I've since found Doddington as a place in Lincolnshire, so apologies for any confusion.

First, a word on naming.... Around 11pm last night I realised I had been staring at a similar page that I am currently, that of a new topic. However it had been blank for approx 90 minutes as I pondered a title/layout name before proceeding to the body of the post. As if procrastinating didn't take up enough of my time I now sat running through infinite methods and ideas for names - various combinations of real/semi real/fantasy places, shortened and merged family member names (among others in my sleep deprived state Kirthojac, anyone?), words that the four year old it is all being done in aid of would find familiar whilst suiting a passing resemblance to being a real place, and so on. On the way up the stairs tonight to revisit starting this thread I decided to simplify and just shorten the name of the nearest village to where I live. It is suitable in being unquestionably real, in my mind it works with various words added that may come in and out over time as it develops, it didn't have a real line or station passing through at any point, so I can do what I want without any kind of comparison being drawn by myself or others, consciously or otherwise. So hats off to those with creative names for their layouts that give the reader an idea of what they'll be looking at, or simply draws us into reading the thread, it seems to be a skill in itself! Welcome to my layout thread, given my skill level and pace of work I won't be setting the world ablaze with updates and content. I wanted to do this partly as a diary for myself, I've taken pictures and made notes along the way, some of which I'll need to refer back to if I come to expand, and some of which will be nice to look back on as hopefully the layout improves. So I wanted to put it into some sort of order, in one place. If it manages to help others or provide a worthwhile read for anyone than all the better. A brief history, as a child I had very much a trainset, it was a bare board that stood up against the wall at the end of most evenings, with an assortment of everything from Thomas & friends, Intercity 225 and at least one each of steam and diesel. Fast forward and I have a son, now age 4, he's been through the plastic Thomas track, the wooden Brio/other brand track and is way more into trains on the whole than I was at his or any other age. Several months ago I started on the idea of getting him a trainset ready in time for Christmas, I had my doubts re. 4 year old vs. delicate model train related items and the risk of them being treated similarly to the wooden stuff he was into at the time. So I decided I'd keep it simple and cheap in the beginning, to see if he was interested and also to see whether I'd need to be replacing trains and trucks etc more regularly than was economically viable. The first part of the thread deals with the temporary layout he was given for Christmas, and then I'll get into making it a permanent feature in the spare room. Hopefully within a few posts I'll catch up to the present day and can start talking about plans for the future, so here goes.... The size of the initial layout was determined by the space on the living room floor. We wanted to have it there for Christmas morning so he could come down and play with it, show the grandparents and all that. The board ended up being slightly smaller than ideal at 5'x4'. I decided I wanted to add bracing from the outset, although it was going straight on to the floor I knew that inevitably it would get walked over and I wasn't sure what that would do in terms of bending and so on. Because of the weight this would add I decided to do it in two parts, to aid in carrying it up and down stairs at various stages of building, keeping it hidden, and moving it out of the way if needed. Many layouts seem to use 4'x2' as a standard size so I went for that, as it should be ready made if and when we expand, along with a 4'x3', as a word of caution this was at the limit of being unwieldy and not something I'd repeat if starting over. I had another 4'x3' leftover, I'd asked for 8'x4' in total as a standard size sold, not sure if I could have just had only what I needed, but it's there ready when needed and hopefully will encourage expansion so it doesn't go to waste. It was all 12mm ply from a local company, and at a very similar price to what was available in the chain stores. In terms of bracing, 2"x1" seems favoured so I went for a close match with 27x44mm 'softwood planed square edge'. Untrusting of my carpentry skills I decided to build the frame onto the board, rather than build up the frame and attach the board after. The 4'x2' was naturally easier, gluing and screwing the four outer edges and then making two inner lengths to fit. The 4'x3' I did the same, and then added in further braces through the middle, I sited these such that if future expansion requires the use of 4'x2' this one can be butchered down to the correct width without the bracing being in the way. Also have drilled holes for any future wiring should I get that far. I used 25mm screws for the board and 50mm for joining the frame, along with PVA glue and clamps as far as possible. The boards were given two coats of grey primer/undercoat and then some white emulsion underneath should I need the brightness for any future wiring type jobs. For attaching the boards I wasn't looking for too complicated or expensive of a solution. Following suggestions I went with coach bolts and some latches, to be honest the bolts were probably fine on their own and I think one of the latches was slightly too close so didn't pull tight enough to offer any help. Onwards with the track, following the budget route I picked up a trainset from ebay which included the standard loop plus siding. This however didn't fit on the board as intended and had been known from an early stage. The fully plan could be done in the space which I'll come on to later, however wouldn't have been conducive to the temporary requirement of separating boards. So a plan with shortened straights was used so that straight sections crossed the board joints. After some extensive playing testing all was set for Christmas Eve, which conveniently brings me to a good time to end this part, to be continued. If you've read this far then many thanks, happy to answer any questions or take on board suggestions. I'm very much a newcomer to this and have had several threads asking questions along the way, so any further help is appreciated. Tom

To update, the spare wheel arrived a few days ago and was fitted without issue. I had a practice knocking the axle out of the broken wheel before taking a wheel off the new one for fitting. Haven't perfected getting the correct width between wheels so a couple of trial and error runs were needed but all now seems to be running well. Thanks again for all the help, Tom

Thank you all again for the further replies. I've gone with Ray's suggested part first and will report back once delivered and fitted. On the plus side it runs a lot smoother since being cleaned and oiled, so I'm glad I've dipped my toe in to servicing as there's a few more old models that may see new life on my sons layout. Tom

Thank you all for the replies, some of the terminology is a bit beyond me so I'll add some photos to help my possible poor explanation.... Thanks David, if I understand what stub axles are then I don't think this has them, it runs all the way through. It's a pretty solid unit and took me ages to get it apart as far as I have, the motor doesn't separate from the main piece holding the wheels. The first photo shows where the cover sits and would have been covered by the middle wheel. The pins/lugs/whatever on the left and right of the cover made it impossible to get off without removing the wheel. The second photo shows it from the other side, along with the hole that the axle went through. The third photo is the broken wheel/axle, I'd assume the centre of the wheel has a piece that should be attached to the main axle that I became too enthusiastic in levering off. Looking at it now I guess I should have knocked the middle through with a hammer or something?? Thanks Kevin, I had a look for other James and the reference, it seems less similar to the sheet I found. Even so, the spare wheels for the one you suggested are also not available anywhere... Thanks, that service sheet is the one I found and seems to be correct in most places. I will look into ebay and contact Peters spares. I'm not too bothered about replacing as there's a couple of other old ones I can tempt him away with (Thomas & Percy), and I think if he had his way it would all be dropped in favour of a Mallard. Thanks for looking into it, I was hoping there would be enough similarity with other types of tender that alternatives would be a good option. Cheers, I think as mentioned it's not a stub axle (assuming my understanding is correct), and if it comes to it I think it will still work with the two axles once it's oiled and put back together. Thanks Ray, no idea if it is 3 or 5 pole, maybe the photos help? I'll look into the alternative models you suggested and see if their wheels are suitable, if I get desperate it's only a few £ for a lot of these sets. Thanks for confirming, I think that's why it has a cog on, if it was sold as a set of three it wouldn't matter which was put in what place. Further annoyance when finding another of these unhelpful R numbers on the inside of the wheel - R351 brings up a Thomas model.... I will look at and contact what I said above, and I'm also lucky enough to have a model shop not a million miles away that might be able to help, but it will be some time before I'm in that vicinity and a four year old knows little patience. In the meantime if anyone comes across further useful information it would be much appreciated. Thanks again Tom

Hi folks, I dug out some of my old trains to try and use them on my sons layout. They've been stored for approx 20 years so obviously needed some work. To get into the motor for this particular one required removing one of the wheels from the tender, which I promptly broke off the axle. I've had a look on the Hornby site at the service sheet for it or the closest I could find and the part number isn't in stock anywhere on google. I guess due to its age there are probably newer versions and the corresponding part numbers have changed, so I'm after some pointers for an appropriate substitute please. The model is James, the only R number I could find on it was R152 on the bottom of the loco chassis, which came up blank. As mentioned it must be 20 plus years old, tender drive. The sheet I found on the Hornby site was number 282, it seems to be the or very close to the one which lead me to the part number - X9383, which only appears on one site, and out of stock. I don't really mind getting an identical look, he won't be bothered and most of it seems like it will be covered by the body anyway. My concerns were that there is also a cog on this axle, although it doesn't appear to connect to anything, and obviously getting the right size (diameter and 'hole' size if that varies). Many thanks for any help.

I had an email from rails whilst catching up with the thread advertising the Hornby terriers. Noticed the product description is a link to their own pedigree terriers.... Enjoyable show, hopefully not too many instances of duplication to come with all the other things they could create or update instead.

This month includes the ideas for layouts magazine, priced separately at £5.99, so a good deal if you're looking for that sort of thing.

Thanks Neal, he also has Brio and I think this has replaced the plastic Thomas take & play stuff, which I didn't rate. I possibly jumped the gun a bit as he's not quite picked up things like putting them back on the track properly and understanding speed and corners etc but I figured get in and make the most of it before he gets to Xbox age which might take him away from this sort of thing. The board is 12mm thick, there's pics below that explain better than my waffle. I considered wall mounting with a hinge but I'm not sure the effort would be worth it. For instance the only thing currently fighting for the space it will occupy is a clothes airer, which is easier moved elsewhere, and hopefully we'll get more into scenery and buildings than I managed in my childhood, making fold-away either impossible or time consuming. Cheers John, they felt quite solid when I put them together, with a fair few people walking across them to reach the sofa while it's been in the lounge with no apparent ill effects. I'll probably do it in stages so I'll see if the leg/bracing works for one section before I replicate it on the smaller one. Thanks Harlequin, as mentioned above I'll avoid this for now as there's also high chance he'll swap bedroom into the room it's going into so may need re-arranging in the short term. Maybe once that's settled and we have a final area I can revisit the idea. Thanks, this is very true, I was pleased with how solid the boards turned out after following the advice of the good people on here so hopefully the legs will match. Thanks Harold, 5x4 is correct, for now at least. I've been playing with the height in my head, switching between regular table height and something lower, as you suggest, both have pros and cons. I've also been thinking about the bracing, I'd like to keep the front as open as possible, so I was planning to have a horizontal piece between the front and back legs and some form of diagonal. If that still leaves a wobble or doubt then I'll have to do another diagonal across part of the front. That's my current idea anyway, based on no expertise. Thanks, I'm not too worried about him reaching the back as hopefully he won't be using it unsupervised, although he does do some neat tricks if he's up and about before we realise. I've also got it up against the wall, not enough room for walk around in its current guise. The height thing I am leaning towards lower and as you say that will make it stronger, so I feel a bit more confident going with the leftover 44x27mm. I'll have a read through your thread as I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I did inside battening, pics should be below, took some as I went along in case I get round to making a thread about the layout at some point. First is the 4'x3', then the 4'x2'. Reason I didn't do all 4'x2' was it becoming a permanent feature soon after Xmas. I had a thought on the legs about putting two lengths together to make an L shape leg, not sure if that would help or just double the amount of wood needed.... Thanks again for reading and all your help so far

Hello folks, pleased to report the train set was well received by our four year old on Christmas Day and there's enough interest from he and approval from the boss to set it up in the spare room. Briefly, it was a 4'x2' and 4'x3' board on top of 44x27mm frame, joint together with bolts and latches. As part of moving it out the lounge where its been sat on the floor I want to put it on legs and repaint it. It only got as far as undercoat and took a bit of a battering over xmas, as a walkway and drinks coaster among other things. I've made this thread as most of the others I searched related to portable or folding solutions, which I don't need. The layout threads I read through didn't really cover legs in detail that covered what I wanted to know. So... I have some 44x27mm sticks left over, will they be enough for the job or do I need thicker? I'm equally conscious about overkill so I avoided picking up some fence post size wood I saw by chance the other day. Would a suitable plan be a leg on each corner of the 4'x3' and two on the outside corners of the 4'x2', or would I need four on that board as well? Additionally would there be need for a 5th or even 6th leg on the longer sides or centre of the bigger board? One brace across the legs at each end or will a diagonal as well help? I had planned to put the legs inside the frame edges and screw in from both sides, then down through the board as well, or is it better to have something in between for the leg to be fixed to? I think that's all, if there are specific layout threads that anyone can suggest where I can find this for myself I'm happy to read a few pages to find it, I wasn't having any luck going through the search with pot luck. Many thanks Tom

The incorrect assumption I made using this site is that the search results do not auto update as you choose criteria, unlike many sites nowadays. Took a few browses before realising I had to click the refine results button underneath, in case you've also assumed the same.

Took our four year old to the Santa Special yesterday at NVR, we used to go there as kids and my mum was keen to repeat the experience for him. He was quite disappointed to see a diesel shunter(?) at the front as we pulled up to the closed level crossing, then his face lit up as Tornado passed at the back of the train. I'll put a pic up once we get them off the camera. However his favourite part was having a look inside Thomas and talking the ear off the driver with questions.

Thanks Nick, the bracing you suggest sounds the same as I had in mind. Thanks David, I did look briefly at these and other open top types and can see the benefit. However given the time I have to get it done this time, along with my skill level and experience in doing something similar vs starting from scratch learning an open top I've decided to stick with the flat board. Time for a couple of stupid questions. Regards joining the boards many threads mention either dowels or coach bolts, fair enough I can find those. However coach bolts come with a square or regular (hex) nut and seemingly all a head on the bolt that doesn't take any kind of screwdriver etc, these don't seem the easiest way as they can only be tightened to a point without the other side slipping, with both square or hex nut looking like they'd work loose over time? Apologies I haven't had to do this sort of joint before, it's always been solved by screws. In a similar vein 2"x1", or 50x25mm is used very regularly as the standard size for framing, looking on the website for a couple of chain DIY stores there are few options at this size, mostly either roof battens or rough sawn. Seeming to get an option that is planed/smooth etc need to go lower thickness or width and I guess reduce the strength, or higher and add weight, interested to hear what I've missed with this one. Many thanks again

Great idea thanks, that should definitely work for my initial plan. I came across an interesting idea of fitting more in less space by rotating the layout slightly. The oval using all the track in the set is a cm or two over the far ends if I have a 5x4 board, however rotating it a few(?) degrees allows me to fit in the other straights and use all the included track. That might be version 1.0 while I figure out how much space we can use once permanently settled in the spare room, also moving up to 6x4 will feel like a bonus upgrade, if that becomes the limit. Thanks Harold, good luck with your new layout. It did occur that weight could be an issue, particularly when I decided not to drive from the main car park to the loading point to collect said wood and had to carry it all a short distance! Hopefully all will be forgotten if it becomes a permanent feature (mostly dependent on child being interested and the aggro of disassembly/moving forcing me to finish decluttering the spare room). Although if it comes to it I could always take a foot off the two larger boards and use them for whatever side project I try and find the time for. Thanks for the framing guidance I will go with that, point motors are a way off so I'll worry about that when I get to it. The painting I'll look into further, not sure if it was certain types of wood that need protecting more than others, wouldn't want to un-necessary work for myself. Also possibly bare wood would look nicer than whatever off-white emulsion would have gone on until proper painting and scenery took place. Your point on doing the frame while attached to the board is helpful, I had the same reservations that there would be overlaps galore if I made the frame separately. The trakmat I've not decided on, if I use a shorter plan for now or rotate to fit a smaller board than it's irrelevant, going with the standard 6x4 apart from giving a temporary 'background' I can't see any benefit. Thanks again for any further input

Hi folks, hope this is the right area, couldn't see a specific one for woodworking queries. I've got a long ramble and at the end a couple of questions at the end, so please skip ahead, or read on at your peril I've bought a trainset for our son for Xmas and am going to get it setup beforehand, he's probably too young to be putting the track together and it will be one less thing for me to do on Xmas morning along with the usual carboard mountain and battery searching routine. I thought I'd do the simple flat board and framework option for now as I feel I can get it done in the brief daylight hours when he isn't around to suss out what it is. Also as I'm not sure what the final use will be in terms of downstairs or upstairs on the floor, or eventually upstairs on legs, but that's not a problem for today. I've bought some board and that is it so far. I got an 8'x4' sheet cut into two 4x3 and a 4x2, 12mm plywood. Followed advice and got it from a local place rather than a chain, but I have no clue on timber quality. I was going to get four 4x2 and put three together for a 6x4 that would fit the basic loop and trakmat that came with it. Changed my mind so there will be one less joint and a bit less framing weight. Given myself a conundrum in that if I use one less bit of straight track I can fit it on a 4x3 and a 4x2, bit smaller for carrying around, particularly if its up and down stairs over Christmas. So one idea I had was to go with the smaller board for a couple of weeks as a 'build 0.5' and then once things settle down in January make a more permanent fixture in the spare room and move up to the two 4x3. For now I think I'll leave out legs as I'd have to do lower than 'standard' to suit the height of a four year old. So floor based until layout features prohibit standing up against the wall when not in use. If/when it gets to needing to be kept flat I can look at legs again. As a side feature with the spare (most likely in the long term 4x2) I thought about doing a bit of a shelf layout with the option of hooking it up to the main one, which could also be used for storage while the larger board is stood up as mentioned, although all of that is getting a bit ahed of myself. To do beforehand I understand I need to do the framework, I was considering leaving it off for now and having the boards on the floor next to each other but I'm probably asking for trouble with knocks and poor alignment. Popular opinion seems to be 25x50mm battens around the outside and then in the middle to make squares of around 2ft (60cm). Drill holes in the middle of battens for any future wiring. There is also painting to seal it and help prevent warping and other problems, which I can do with some leftover emulsion. And coachbolts to join them together, but that stage I have a bit more reading to do, so may be back with further questions. For joining the track across boards, given the temporary nature of the plan and hopefully only short term need for separating boards I want to avoid the likes of soldering. Given there will only be two straights across the joints I figured I could either put the track joints at the board joints or cut the rails and put extra fish plates on, slotting them together with the boards. Not ideal for regular or repeated use but as I said, hopefully this will be resolved, otherwise I'll have to look at a longer term fix for separating baseboards regularly. First, obviously have I understood things correctly, I've seen 2ft squares for framework mentioned down to 1ft, which seems a bit excessive although happy to be corrected if that or a fgure in between is appropriate For battens, taking the 2ft square frame example on a 4x2 board that would be one across the middle? And the 4x3 I'd do one vertical and two horizontal, or vice versa, effectively creating six squares People have mentioned diagonal bracing rather than simple square type, but I wouldn't know where to start, is it worth pursuing or stick with the simpler method? Apart from soldering related solutions, is there a temporary, easier and hopefully cheaper way to join boards, as I suspect comments may follow about damaging fishplate while attempting to manouver two boards together Do I need to paint/seal the board before attaching it to the frame or does the frame all need painting as well for protection? Is the Trakmat any good or does it act as a limiting feature in not being able to deviate without it looking odd? This one is full of creases in any case so I'm a bit wary, however it may be preferable to child than wood or whatever emulsion gets slopped over it Any other suggestions/guidance appreciated. Weather permitting I'll have a good bash at starting this on Sunday while they're out Christmas shopping. Many thanks Tom

Great work on the scenery all over, you seem to have done it at a good pace as well which I am equally envious of. Will check back for further updates as it will probably be around the size I have to play with if I ever clear the space set aside. At the fear of adding too much clutter, the area to the left as you walk on to the platforms might benefit from a cycle rack/car park ticket machine, as a suggestion.

Thanks guys, I'm fortunate enough to have a model shop in walking distance of home and one within a lunchtime walk at work, both of which I've visited in the last couple of weeks, picked up a couple of Peco books as well. Those along with the links and other sites I've seen have given me plenty of food for thought so I've some work to do. I have until November or December to get it in place, depending on it being a birthday or Christmas gift and I will report back with progress. Cheers again for all the input