I've read a number of threads on small and portable layouts, so I thought I'd post this. It might give someone an idea. The purpose of this was for my 5 year old grandson. Some might have seen the Pre-Post war 2-4-2, that I repainted similar to a red comet, for Christmas last year. I got an oval of fast track for him thinking he'd be able to put it together himself. Well I found a couple of months ago that he hasn't run his train since they moved out of my house last April. He couldn't put together the track. So this is what I came up with. It's 36" x 72" (3x6). I wanted it light enough he could get it out of the closet or from under his bed and set it up. I used a 1/2" sheet of cabinet ply. It's stable, won't warp, fairly light, but thick enough to hold track screws good. The hinges had to be set up on 1/2" blocks so when it was folded it wouldn't damage the track. Blocks of the same were installed in each corner, again to protect the track. All wiring was kept to the top for maxium protection when stored. I even wired in a quick connect plug so all he would have to do is unfold it on the floor, plug his transformer to the layout, and transformer into the wall outlet. Some painted roads, he likes to play with his cars and trucks, and army men. Some green for grass, dabbed with some color to represent weeds and such. I made the crossings from auto body filler. This way he can roll his cars across the tracks properly.
I also picked up a nice little S2, (thanks to forum member) and put together a few post war cars for him. These were chosen for play value. Rocket launcher, cause..........well just cause, crane ( he really likes messing with my AF crane), gondola and dropped center flat, (good to load his cars, trucks, tanks, and army men. I also have a Lionel RS3 I gonna give him. That one played Evil Knievel off the top of my layout and had to epoxy the trucks back together. If he breaks it..............he breaks it.
Hope you enjoy. It's def. a kids layout, but it might inspire something more grown up...........
