Trainlover160's excellent thread about trainroom color has been very helpful as I pursue a complete rebuild of my tinplate layout. My 18 year old paneling is virtually identical to NJC Joe's paneling, and I like it very much. I will need to decide on a layout table color and "topping" material. The table top is plywood, and I may go with painted homosote, although getting that material into the basement was much easier 20 years ago!!!
What Color And Material Is Your Tinplate Train Table?
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green painted plywood,simple like the guy that built it.
Save some money and just carpet over the plywood.
Remember this is 100% throw away money. Not like a train where you can sell it in the end and get most of your money back.
I have painted homasote on my STG layout and several carpeted SGMA modules. To do my home layout over it would be carpet.
I laid half-inch sound board over the plywood and painted it in multiple shades of beige and brown. This will be a help later when I add scenery. The Standard Gauge layout is actually a loop of track with 87" curves around the outside of my 0 gauge layout. I'm planning to put roadbed under the Standard Gauge track to further dampen the sound and add some visual separation from the 0 gauge inner layout.
Sound board is cheaper and easier to find than Homasote. I think I paid around 12 bucks a sheet at Lowe's. It is messy to work with. The best thing is to prime the whole sheet, top, bottom and edges, before you cut it. That will keep the dust down. Sound board is even thirstier than Homasote so you definitely want to use primer before laying down the color coat.
I'm still debating about the material, but for the color I'm definitely going with a neutral color (brown / tan). I'm borrowing that idea from several other tinplaters who went with neutral colors that won't compete with the bright colors of the tinplate trains. In the past I would've always gone with green to simulate grass, but once I saw how good the trains look on a neutral background, I don't think I'd ever go back to green. As for the material, I'm in the process of laying 1/2" plywood on my new Mianne benchwork and will probably go with painted homasote. I'll be very interested in what others will add here.
When I have room to make this happen (*just drawings now)... I will probably take a short black carpet "welcome mat" you find at any Hardware store and make that my table top. It's rough in texture (*will hold tracks down) and its black color will contrast the silver tracks, skyscrapers (*Bilt E-Z or Tinkertoys) and Tootsietoys cars well!
Though I dont know what you'd use for a much bigger table/room..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ariville/
I built a small all tinplate layout about two years ago. It really is quite tiny, only 3x4, because that is all the room I had remaining in my basement. It will only accommodate small O gauge engines and rolling stock but I really enjoy it. I have a plywood base covered with a neutral tan colored indoor/outdoor carpet obtained from Home Depot. I used liquid nails when laying the carpet on the plywood base. My O gauge Lionel tubular track is the old style NY tubular from the 1940s and it lays on Johnson's O gauge rubber roadbed. Even though I didn't use homasote the trains run very quiet. I constructed a second level using reproduction Marx metal trestles obtained from Joe's train parts on E-Bay. They work really well on my all tinplate layout. Everything on the layout is tinplate made by either Lionel, American Flyer, Marx or MTH Tinplate Traditions.
I went cheap and cheezy. drywall over some old folding tables I found out for trash. covered it with green felt laying around the house. if I get some room to build on, I may ditch the felt but I'm not gonna put a lot of effort into my layout. I've done the building scenery/mountains with foam, dirt, ect and it's a mess. it's also not as flexible for those who may want to change the track design.
I used cheap fleecy blanket throws to cover my layouts. Bright green on this little portable one and more of an olive green on the main layout.
My standard gauge layout is on a very short nap, dense, dark green, rubber backed indoor-outdoor carpet from Lowes, laid on 1/2" plywood over 2x4s on 16" centers. It is quiet, and provides a nice background for the trains and accessories.
After ten years I have no complaints regarding the use of this carpet.
Well not pure tin plate, a bit too high rail. Not high rail, too much "folk art". Not art, too toy-like
.
But I have run all my trains there
.
Brown, then green paint on plywood, then many spray colors, greys, browns, yellows, red, blue, purple, orange, black, flat satin gloss...everything I had really
.
And then I got foam (green), and two "grass on paper" mats.
Which not being too fussy, was really the easiest.
The sound is louder than expected. So the next one I'm trying the play mats.
Ive seen layouts on "astro-turf" carpet. It was the quietest 3 rail O layout I've heard.
The Big Box hardware and dept. stores have interlocking, thick foam rubber play mats. Dovetailed on the edges, or looking like a puzzle piece.(in black) A few that have tried them really liked it.
The green fleece I have on a 30"x30", just like Andy, does a decent job at sound deadening too.
In the end, the best way to deaden sound, and remain "true" to the tinplate look, is a big, firm, low nap, throw rug!
Someone should throw an oval weave carpet on a table layout. Hmmm
green painted plywood,simple like the guy that built it.
Steamer, Love the Pic. That looks like fun!
Save some money and just carpet over the plywood.
To do my home layout over it would be carpet.
Jim, That's great advice, and very helpful. Now I'll feel comfortable skipping the heavy, dust generating homasote.
I laid half-inch sound board over the plywood and painted it in multiple shades of beige and brown. I'm planning to put roadbed under the Standard Gauge track to further dampen the sound and add some visual separation from the 0 gauge inner layout.
Very helpful. I never thought of that material. Pic looks great!
...for the color I'm definitely going with a neutral color (brown / tan). I'm borrowing that idea from several other tinplaters who went with neutral colors that won't compete with the bright colors of the tinplate trains. In the past I would've always gone with green to simulate grass, but once I saw how good the trains look on a neutral background, I don't think I'd ever go back to green. As for the material, I'm in the process of laying 1/2" plywood...
Thanks, Blue Comet! My O gauge layout is built exactly as you describe, with green painted homatose, although I built the benchwork. It looks very nice with all of the accessories, and is similar in color and material composition to a very nice SG layout at the TCA headquarters. I'm also thinking of a neutral background for my new SG layout, particularly since I already have a green layout that I like.
... I will probably take a short black carpet "welcome mat" you find at any Hardware store and make that my table top. It's rough in texture (*will hold tracks down) and its black color will contrast the bright silver tracks, skyscrapers..
Elgaucho,
That should be a very interesting toy train layout!
I built a small all tinplate layout about two years ago. It really is quite tiny, only 3x4, because that is all the room I had remaining in my basement. It will only accommodate small O gauge engines and rolling stock but I really enjoy it. I have a plywood base covered with a neutral tan colored indoor/outdoor carpet obtained from Home Depot. I used liquid nails when laying the carpet on the plywood base.
OK,
Very, very inspiring and helpful! Love the pix. Your layout and the fun that you derive from operating it shows that a large space is not needed!
...I've done the building scenery/mountains with foam, dirt, ect and it's a mess. it's also not as flexible for those who may want to change the track design.
chinatrain99,
Great strategies! So true about the mess created by many landscaping materials.
I used cheap fleecy blanket throws to cover my layouts. Bright green on this little portable one and more of an olive green on the main layout...
handyandy,
That looks awesome! Is that really a blanket, and how did you get it so tight? Years ago, I did this with a similar white blanket on a Christmas layout with snow village buildings. Simple construction, with rave reviews from visitors, particularly women -- more so than my main layout that took countless hours to build.
My only problem was oil/grease stains on the blanket after the inevitable few derailments. I just joked that my layout was pure as New York snow...
My standard gauge layout is on a very short nap, dense, dark green, rubber backed indoor-outdoor carpet from Lowes, laid on 1/2" plywood over 2x4s on 16" centers. It is quiet, and provides a nice background for the trains and accessories.
After ten years I have no complaints regarding the use of this carpet.
win86,
Very, very helpful. I'm leaning toward following this model with a lighter color I/O carpet, since I already have a layout with a green table top.
...Brown, then green paint on plywood, then many spray colors, greys, browns, yellows, red, blue, purple, orange, black, flat satin gloss... So the next one I'm trying the play mats.
Ive seen layouts on "astro-turf" carpet. It was the quietest 3 rail O layout I've heard.
The Big Box hardware and dept. stores have interlocking, thick foam rubber play mats. Dovetailed on the edges, or looking like a puzzle piece.(in black)
Adriatic,
Very interesting. Which of the colors did you prefer? I have the mats you describe under my layout, since I still have two duck-unders -- a major difficulty I plan to eliminate. One of Jim Barrett's backstop videos arrived in the mail yesterday....
Personally, I'm not sure I would like the "jigsaw puzzle" look under the layout, but, the look might look great with the "playful" tinplate trains.
My layout is named The Blueboard Central Division of American Flyer Lines, for obvious reasons. Here are some early photos of it.
Its made of 2" blue foam insulation put down over my high school bench work for an HO layout that my dad and I made.
I am basically a collector, so the thought of a permanent layout was not in the plan at first. Eventually I decided I wanted to see the trains run and I needed space to store more trains. The growth of the layout was somewhat haphazard and I expanded it to get rid of a tiresome duck under. Once I got the layout up and running I started building some vignettes and before I knew it I had blue styrofoam covered by by felt or anything that was colorful to set off the trains.
I keep thinking that I am going to take it all up and paint the blue board neutral earth tones, but that doesn't seem to happen. BTW - The Fastrack is not fastened down and in the 8 years it has been in place it hasn't moved even an 1/8th of an inch
I also display and run the trains at shows or for presentations. That layout is temporary, built on 5 6-foot tables that are covered with grey indoor out door carpeting.
So far this works for me. I think you have to decide what level of detail you want to establish and what color background you think works best for your tinplate.
Great photos everyone!
Greg
PS
This is what the Blueboard Central looks like today.
Greg that looks fantastic!
Blue Carpet Central----Christmas only.
Norm
I built a small all tinplate layout about two years ago. It really is quite tiny, only 3x4, because that is all the room I had remaining in my basement. It will only accommodate small O gauge engines and rolling stock but I really enjoy it. I have a plywood base covered with a neutral tan colored indoor/outdoor carpet obtained from Home Depot. I used liquid nails when laying the carpet on the plywood base.
OK,
Very, very inspiring and helpful! Love the pix. Your layout and the fun that you derive from operating it shows that a large space is not needed!
Thanks Dennis. I really wish I had the room to construct a large enough tinplate layout to accommodate Standard Gauge engines as well as the smaller O gauge stuff. I only get to run my Standard gauge at Christmas time. I have to admit though that the reason I don't have any more room in my basement is because of an 8x20 post-war inspired O Gauge layout and a 5x9 American Flyer layout so I certainly can't complain.
Medium green short nap I/O carpet atop Cellotex and plywood. These along with the rubber roadbed make for a quiet layout. It is also easy to keep clean. Tubular track all the way.
Bob
I used cheap fleecy blanket throws to cover my layouts. Bright green on this little portable one and more of an olive green on the main layout...
handyandy,
That looks awesome! Is that really a blanket, and how did you get it so tight? Years ago, I did this with a similar white blanket on a Christmas layout with snow village buildings. Simple construction, with rave reviews from visitors, particularly women -- more so than my main layout that took countless hours to build.
My only problem was oil/grease stains on the blanket after the inevitable few derailments. I just joked that my layout was pure as New York snow...
My fleece is stapled with a small Stanley staple gun to the bottom side of the plywood just like upholstery. No glue.
The only PITA is drilling holes in the cloth. Snip a hole with scissors and use a cut down drinking straw to keep nap from catching the spinning drill bit.
The foam rubber play mat Ive seen comes in black, white, blue, red, yellow, and green. I bet they make others I haven't seen yet. I used them all in harlequin fashion on the floors of a teal & gold Dodge A-100 van (almost a Scooby Doo van)
They looked good and are strong enough they worked great protecting the floor from transmissions, engines, camping gear, etc. Cleaned easy (except white), doubled as a lunchtime mattress on occasion, and saved a few knees in pairs from adult knee burn 
I cant believe I never thought of them as a track base.
I will likely just cover them in hobby grass mat. I like it. (pale grass-green & tan)
Id likely go with green, if I just used the foam. Tan, or black would be next choice.
Another issue I had with "board foam", aside from being louder than expected, is this layout was too deep, and up against the wall, so I had to climb on it from time to time.
That leaves dents in the foam. Or while on the inside loop, and avoiding foam dents, bent O-27
.
The grass mat isn't glued, and returns to flat. So you don't see the dents, but they are there.
The rubber foam, though very dense, will return to shape almost immediately.
Dennis, having some experience with duck unders, lift ups, and drop downs. If you look at a mechanical solution and can do it, seriously think about swing outs, like half doors.
Looks better that 7ft tall lift bridges
My layout is 1/2" plywood over a frame, with the plywood covered with a sheet of grass paper. Some of the tracks are "ballasted" with sandpaper underneath. The fascia is just pine painted with a dark brown that I like. Nice and simple, easy to change track plans when the mood strikes:
If I ever build another layout, I think I would like to use homasote to make it easier to screw the track down.
Dennis,
My base is usually some kind of Green in keeping with the Christmas layout scheme, on the Tin Plate layouts, single or multi level the base is usually Green in color.
PCRR/Dave
Dennis, having some experience with duck unders, lift ups, and drop downs. If you look at a mechanical solution and can do it, seriously think about swing outs, like half doors.
Looks better that 7ft tall lift bridges
Thanks Adriatic. I will do that. Would you or any Forum members have a reference to swing outs? I did find a thread, but the work looked pretty complicated. Another option that I have been considering is a lightweight "Lift-Out", particularly given all of the beautiful pix on this thread using foam board as the "table-top".
My layout is named The Blueboard Central Division of American Flyer Lines, for obvious reasons. Here are some early photos of it.
Greg,
Love the pix -- the layout, the display -- the whole thing! The above pic is much like my O gauge train room, without the stunning SG collection. Paneling is similar, and I have display shelves on the walls above the train table. I also have a "duck-under" in a similar place on the layout, with another on the far left side. My O Gauge layout is shaped in an "E" configuration, with the center section of the "E" spanning 6' wide, and the top and bottom sections of the "E" spanning 2', with the "E" closed into a rectangle by the two duck-unders. This was done more than 20 years ago to shoe-horn an 0-72 loop into an 11' wide room. I have now been "given" the adjacent recreation room (much wider and longer) where this Tinplate layout will go. I still need to fix the O gauge room, and don't want to destroy my knees with the duck-unders.
In closing, love your train room!
I used a high traffic carpet I found at Lowes. The color is cinnamon.
Dennis, having some experience with duck unders, lift ups, and drop downs. If you look at a mechanical solution and can do it, seriously think about swing outs, like half doors.
Looks better that 7ft tall lift bridges
Thanks Adriatic. I will do that. Would you or any Forum members have a reference to swing outs? I did find a thread, but the work looked pretty complicated. Another option that I have been considering is a lightweight "Lift-Out", particularly given all of the beautiful pix on this thread using foam board as the "table-top".
Size would play a role in that too I guess. The one on foam in the photo is small compared to what I'm used to (about1/2 or 1/4 the size.)
A quadrilateral rectangle or polygon(a wedge) shape would avoid edge interference opening and closing would be needed for the width. But its just a dutch door (half door) with an extended shelf. If it needs to be wider, a box frame hinged on a corner. Maybe with a wheel to support the extra weight.
Building the stationary hinge frame strong enough without tying to the ceiling would be the only real difference from a hinged lift, or drop. Another anchored box frame?
Using foam hadn't come along yet when we did it, but weight is the reason to shy from lifts and drops. They were heavy even after we redesign them. Head wounds, pinched flesh, trap door action, or lifting with something in the other...it was always a pain.
Medium green short nap I/O carpet atop Cellotex and plywood. These along with the rubber roadbed make for a quiet layout. It is also easy to keep clean. Tubular track all the way.
Bob
Bob,
A Gorgeous layout! Did you use the foam backed celotex, or the fibreboard style? The current material looks much different than the homes I worked on while working with a brick mason during high school and college. I'm very much leaning toward I/O carpet similar to what you describe. I presume that carpet was very easy to cut for the layout.
My layout is 1/2" plywood over a frame, with the plywood covered with a sheet of grass paper. Some of the tracks are "ballasted" with sandpaper underneath. The fascia is just pine painted with a dark brown that I like. Nice and simple, easy to change track plans when the mood strikes:
If I ever build another layout, I think I would like to use homasote to make it easier to screw the track down.
James,
That looks very nice, and the flexibility is great. I used homasote on my O gauge layout and it easy easy to screw the track down. The process of putting down the homasote is almost more involved than the layer of plywood underneath. Due to its weight and size, the homasote requires some effort to get home and into the basement. It also can create significant dust when cutting. The type of blade used in the saber saw can help minimize the "homadust" as I recall. Can't remember which blade though now!
Dennis,
My base is usually some kind of Green in keeping with the Christmas layout scheme, on the Tin Plate layouts, single or multi level the base is usually Green in color.
PCRR/Dave
PCRR/Dave,
Beautiful Christmas layout and setting -- including outside of the windows. Green is great for such a nice holiday layout.
I used a high traffic carpet I found at Lowes. The color is cinnamon.
Johnny,
That carpet and color looks really nice with the colorful trains and accessories. Good choice for a very nice display,
Using foam hadn't come along yet when we did it, but weight is the reason to shy from lifts and drops. They were heavy even after we redesign them. Head wounds, pinched flesh, trap door action, or lifting with something in the other...it was always a pain.
Adriatic,
Good points to consider. I'm really going to have to do my homework on this one. I spoke with my oldest son tonight, and he has offered to help with the rebuild. Also a model train fan, he is very good at working with tools, and is excellent with wiring. Of course, most of my wiring for the layout is routed through one of the duck-unders...
I used a high traffic carpet I found at Lowes. The color is cinnamon.
The work train on the bottom shelf. Do you have a set number or know what engine came with it. I have those, but never thought to see if they were a set.
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