Let's see what's under your track work

I'd go with the Woodland Scenics grass mat. very good looking, and the "grass" doesn't come off the backing materiel.

I have a layer of Homasote on top of the plywood. Green indoor/outdoor carpet was then glued to the Homasote.

 

James, I like the layout.

 

I like the carpet idea, although the Comet is pretty quiet directly on the plywood, don't know if I need the Homasote.  Then again the wife says I'm losing my hearing, so what do I know! 

 

I did check out the Woodland Scenics grass mat today and the colors are spot on for that pre-war feel. 

 

 

 

This is 1/2" plywood with 1/2" homosote. I like your layout!

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say I truly love the paint. Cheap, fairly easy to do, and if you don't like it, just paint over it!

1/2" sound board ($10-11 a sheet at Lowe's) on top of the plywood. I painted the top in a variety of earth tones, mixing three or four shades of interior latex in various combinations. My layout is a combination of 0 and Standard, mostly 0. If I had been going for a classic look I would have painted it dark green, which is what I did on a layout I rebuilt last summer for the local toy train museum. 

 

Sound board is kind of a pain to work with. It's very dirty, and like Homasote, you get a lot of dust when you cut it. It's also somewhat brittle. I cut down on the mess by cleaning each sheet with a shop vacuum, then putting a coat of Kilz or similar latex primer on both sides before I even start to cut it. It will cut with a knife, which gets rid of most of the dust, but I wound up using a rechargeable trim saw (5-3/8") with a fine tooth blade, which I found easier to make clean, straight cuts. 

 

The good things about sound board are that it's dirt cheap, light in weight, and takes screws OK as long as you use a light touch on the screwdriver. Be sure to prime it - otherwise it will suck up paint like crazy. The best thing is to get your primer tinted to match your top coat - it will be easier to cover than stark white, and the store will tint your primer for no extra charge. 

I ended up overkill. OSP board,Homasote and Johnsons rubber roadbed.

I think the easiest is carpet right over your plywood. On the SGMA modules we put grey contrasting carpet to simulate roadbed. To make it more complicated I have thought of raising the track with a 1/4 inch plywood subroadbed and then making the carpet all 1 piece by cutting in the grey roadbed to the green carpet.

 

To cut the grey roadbed one could buy plastic molding and tack it around the outside and inside of the rails and then cut the carpet with a knife.

 

Another method to make a sceniced roadbed is to again use plastic trim molding. Place it around the inside and outside of the track. Paint it and use scenery techniques to finish.

 

 

Is your layout a teardrop figure 8 with the back 2 tracks eventually covered and the train only exposed on the 2 front tracks? If so there are electronic methods too control trains going over the crossing giving you muti train capability.

 

The 22x crossing can also be changed with 4 42 switches and a 90 degree crossing givins a double cross over. Giving more operating options.

Great pictures guys, thanks!  I'm surprised at how may use another underlayment over the plywood.  I have some gaps and spaces, so paint would require Honasote or the like.  I guess I'd have to worry about ripples with loose carpet but i like the idea of different shads to mark out road bed, streets, water, etc.

 

F&G RY - Yes, it is kind of a folded figure 8.  I haven't decided yet if the rear track will be visible.  I may make a backdrop to hide that porion.  The risers are to hold the upper 0 gauge level.  I plan on having several time periods represented from pre-war to modern.  I actually thought about lighting under the upper level to show off the Standar Gauge below.  The Blue Comet is the PS2 version, so yes eventually some form of command control will be installed to run multiple trains.  

This is how I created my folded dog bone. I can run trains on the outer 87 loop and the 72 loop. I can stop a train on the 72 section at the 280 bridge and run the 87 loop train over the 72 loop creating a folded dog bone operation without taking trains off the track. I can stop a train under the 440 signal bridge and run the 72 loop train over the Hellgate and 280 bridge. The 4 switches are wired into a DPDT toggle switch to give me at least 4 operating scenarios by the flick of a switch.

We also have homasote over the plywood, and green indoor outdoor over that. It looks great, and is quiet. Sean

We also have homasote over the plywood, and green indoor outdoor over that. It looks great, and is quiet. Sean

Grey carpet over 3/4" plywood...

 

I use Midwest cork, pretty quiet.  Looks great after ballast. And its easy to use and if you buy the HO stuff its very economical.

J Daddy - is the cork glued to the plywood?  I'm using screws to secure steel tubular track, will the noise transfer thorough the cork?  Something I need to consider for the upper level.

 

pd - that's the look I want for the standard gauge loop!  Simple and clean, like its on "mom's" living room carpet...

Yes, I glue the cork down with Elmer's glue. Then screw the track through the cork and plywood,  ballast with glue, then remove some of the screws that are redundant.  I use gargraves track, and Atlas, this helps reduce track noise too. I noticed the greatest reduction in sound/noise was adding a fascia board or curtain. BTW, I use Atlas track screws, long and very small.

There is a product called Vinylbed made in Tennessee. They do make STD gauge. It bends to any radius you have. A bit larger than cork. I have it on my O-gauge layout and it works great.

I used 2'x2' ceiling tiles on top of chipboard. The top layer is green carpet. The ceiling tiles do a great job with sound reduction AND are a lot easier to handle than a large sheet of homosote. The carpet is for looks though it too will help in reducing the sound. For big layouts, use 2 x 4 ceiling tiles. The type of tile doesn't matter as you can use the back side as the layout surface. If you are aren't putting carpet down, cover the seams between the tiles with tape.

 

Andrew