Track base ideas.

[MARKDJ]

Hi all.

I've been lurking for some years now, with the intention of building a garden railway when the time was right.....that time is now.

I have 2 young children who enjoy trains and loved it when I've set up temporary track in the living room and run a few trains.

We moved house last year to a property with a much larger garden with usable space so the plan is taking shape.

Whilst browsing ideas about track bases, I thought of osb, plywood, decking boards but then thought of....Cable troughing found in warehouses etc. I have added a pic below.

There are lots of ways to attach together, wood can be added underneath and then felted over.

The only difficulty will likely lie in curves, but I'm sure a cutting disc with an angle grinder would solve this. Lots of add ons for them too for attaching items etc.

Any thoughts? Or is it a bit of a daft idea? They seem cheap enough.

Thanks in advance. 

Mark.

[ba14eagle]

If you are using it the way up its photographed, wont the sides hide the lower part of your rolling stock - from my experience, children like to see the wheels & mechanics of a steam loco moving.

You still mention using wood - if you read through any other thread that talks about trackbases, you will see I don't like the use of wood whatsoever 😄 Have you though about recycled plastics? Either in the form of solid posts or sheet material?

I will reiterate an offer I made previously - Ive still got a load of bits of recycled plastic sheet in my garage if anyone wants to come and get it - and its free!

[Andrew]

I think cable tray looks promising, although as Ba14eagle says, it would be better with the flanges downwards.  They mostly seem to be galvanised steel, which should be weatherproof and rigid.  The appearance is pretty unappealing, so it would need to be covered with something like roofing felt and/or timber, but could be ideal for straight sections at least.

[MARKDJ]

I guess it could be used either way depending on application. 

I'd likely use it upside down to the pic.

The reason for wood to be maybe still used is to be able to fix the felt down (covering the ugliness) and then to fix the track to something rather than trying to drill into the tray and use self tappers etc, as gluing track down may be problematic and could potentially be unreliable in extremes of weather (exterior silicone may work)

It was an idea that negates using all wood, and should still preserve rigidity and flatness despite what the other materials are doing.

And as its tray for cables, bus wires can be hidden within.