Hi Andy,

as a kid, I liked to run my trains full speed (really made O-27 switches snap) and had a down grade next to one edge. I used a 1x6 piece of wood to prevent bench to floor tests

Thanks for the quick reply, GPTOM.  I like the idea of 1x6.  If I align it with the bottom of my 2x4 frame, it will extend 2" above the surface.  Does that seem about right?

Andy

Many hobbyists install a perimeter fascia strip to the layout edge, often with control buttons for action accessories mounted on it and aligned with the accessories - handy for kids to use.  My fascia boards are 1x3, painted Lionel orange and set 3/4-inch above the platform surface. Admittedly not very high, but I've never had a train fall to the floor. Photos attached.

Some operators install a protective barrier of clear plexiglas around the perimeter. Set about one foot high, It will keep a derailed train from falling to the floor, but its main function seems to be keeping curious fingers away from the passing trains. Effective, but IMHO somewhat off-putting.  Keep WINDEX handy to wipe away fingerprints of the plexi.

I'm sure you'll get other helpful suggestions from Forum members.

Mike Mottler      LCCA 12394

Great comments, Mike.  Love the Lionel orange and the elevated strip along the edge.

I like the use of Plexiglass, mentioned by Andy.  It keeps things visible and still protects trains from falling to their possible death.  

Andy W posted:

Thanks for the quick reply, GPTOM.  I like the idea of 1x6.  If I align it with the bottom of my 2x4 frame, it will extend 2" above the surface.  Does that seem about right?

That should do the job, Andy.  I have 1x4 frame with 1x6 sides.  The surface materials take up some space so the sides actually only project up about 1.5".  Still that's plenty to catch anything that derails and flops over.

Mike H Mottler posted:

Andy

Many hobbyists install a perimeter fascia strip to the layout edge, often with control buttons for action accessories mounted on it and aligned with the accessories - handy for kids to use.  My fascia boards are 1x3, painted Lionel orange and set 3/4-inch above the platform surface. Admittedly not very high, but I've never had a train fall to the floor. Photos attached.

Some operators install a protective barrier of clear plexiglas around the perimeter. Set about one foot high, It will keep a derailed train from falling to the floor, but its main function seems to be keeping curious fingers away from the passing trains. Effective, but IMHO somewhat off-putting.  Keep WINDEX handy to wipe away fingerprints of the plexi.

I'm sure you'll get other helpful suggestions from Forum members.

Mike Mottler      LCCA 12394

You keep dinosaurs in corrals?? WOW!

Don't forget, you can mount Plexiglas about 1-1/2" ~ 2" high also, just like wood.  Doesn't necessarily have to be a foot high, unless you truly want it to be.

Andy W.:

Considering that i wanted to see what was on the table near the edges as well as allow the shorter grandkids see what was on the table and not have trains or hands in the wrong places, I used my woodworking circular table saw to cut 4 x 8 x 1/8 sheets of clear plastic that I purchased at one of the local big box stores.  Then I used the red colored very strong holding double sided strips of tape that I bought by the roll at the local Ace Hardware store.  I used three of theses strips to hold each sheet that I cut to the side of the table.  The strips that I cut were eight inches wide and when matched with the bottom of my table they extended three inches above the top of the the material that I used for the table top.  I also use the same plastic to mount all of my switch controls and all of my toggle switches that I use to run different electrical working items on the table top.  Works just fine and makes my table lighter than wood to be able to lift with my pulley system.

I used tempered hardboard, mainly because it can bend around corners.   Having little ones that could lobotomize themselves on 90 degree edges, I felt it prudent to have exposed areas of bench work with soft corners.  It’s $8 for a 4 X 8 sheet, and they’ll cut it in to perfect strips as wide (or tall) as you like, in my case 6”.   

Tom

Oak trim.     Click on the underlined phrase for a slideshow.  

I last used 1x6 standing 3/8" above the layout surface.  These 1x6s were also structural elements, not just a decorative fascia.

4” spacing to the edges.  Roll of safety bumper glued around the perimeter.  Home Depot by infant safety stuff.  No problem.  My challenge, getting them off the shelves to run.  Pretty tight spacing.  Grandkids are fine with hands off.

I used this on my home layout.

On the club layouts, we use plexiglass barriers. This is our 6x11.

it depends how close the tracks are to the table edge and whether you will want to get down and see the trains at eye level. Two inches of solid board above the table might hide a lot of the train.

There are two things people are discussing here- fascia, which extends from the table down and dresses up the edge of the table, and safety rail or boards which extend up from the table to either keep the trains on the table and/or prevent unwanted handling of them. For show layouts, clear acrylic makes sense, but for my home layout, I prefer something a little subtler and nicer.

My prewar display layout for home use only (under construction), will have a cream-colored painted fascia with moldings, in keeping with the look of a prewar display layout. For safety, I am coming up with something low- maybe 2-3" that will be open and look period. Probably turned posts at generous intervals (4-6") with brass rails (or possibly painted) running the distance. I have looked at putz fences but not found anything I like yet so will probably make something. The idea is to add a layer of protection against trains hitting the floor while hiding them as little as possible and preserving the period look.

@Gilly@N&W posted:

I used this on my home layout.

On the club layouts, we use plexiglass barriers. This is our 6x11.

I'm still a ways away from the final edging but like Gilly I'll be using banquet table skirting.  Not sure of the color yet.  The protective final edging will be Colonial Baseboard molding.

The last permanent layout I had used some baseboard moulding around the edges like the type pictured above. But instead of fastening it directly against the edges of the table, it was set out a little bit by attaching small wood blocks, about 1"x1" every 6 or eight inches along the side, and then the molding was attached to the blocks. That way, if anything ever left the rails, the wheels would tend to drop into the space between the blocks, trapping them. The idea was that a runaway would tend to get trapped with one side's wheels dropped below the deck, leaning against the molding and stopping rather than potentially rolling sideways up and over. Postwar-style steamers tend to have a high center of gravity, and tend to flop sideways after coming off a curve too fast -- the "trap" concept was intended to minimize the risk.

My father was the hapless "tester" for it. He somehow pushed a locomotive onto the branch line while the power was applied from one of the ZW's auxiliary dials and off one went, too fast around an O-27 curve. The engine got captured, leaning against the safety rail with the drivers on one side neatly dropped into the gap below. Score one for ingenuity, zero for Gomez Addams... 

Andy,

I used Baseboard Moulding which I painted white.

@Andy W posted:

Thanks for the quick reply, GPTOM.  I like the idea of 1x6.  If I align it with the bottom of my 2x4 frame, it will extend 2" above the surface.  Does that seem about right?

Andy,

That's exactly what I did on my layout. I posted a couple pictures in this thread.