Atlas O Under The Tree

You may want to screw track down at ends to keep joiners secure. Make sure you drill a pilot hole into plywood , otherwise you will strip Atlas screws.

When I had a small 4x6 layout under the tree I just placed the track on the roadbed and the glued ballast held it in place just fine.    If you don't glue ballast then maybe one screw every 3 feet would be fine.

--Greg

Definitely plan on gluing the ballast.Do you think raising the plywood some to run wires underneath would be advised?

I'll likely have a crossing flasher which I would supply dedicated power to and while I don't think I'll have to run multiple power feeds to the track, because the loop is so small,  I'd like to keep that option open.

Steve

Plan is to place the track on roadbed onto of cut plywood.

Well I have Atlas O under the tree. I used the Ross Roadbed since it's only Two circles...

045 outer and 036 inner on a 4x4

HEre is the Obs of the Polar Express under the tree layout....

Why not just put the track directly on the floor? No need for a "layout." I've even run HO that way. This year we have Fastrack directly on the carpet and it works great.

I think it's a good idea to raise the platform a half inch to an inch to run wires underneath.  Really depends on how involved you want to get with the layout.

--Greg

glockr, I currently have a Fastrack loop under our tree, but its quite loud on the hardwood floor and I'd like to build something a bit more detailed as I won't be having a permanent layout anytime soon.

Greg, I figured so, and in doing so I can cover the height difference with a snow bank falling off from the track to the floor.

Do you all think a girder bridge would be overkill? There's one in the town I grew up n and I always liked how the icicles grew along it.