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two feeds on the oval in front of the switches. You can install
electrical blocks if you want. If I were to expand operations, I
would go with DCC control.
For a theme, keep it simple. Scenery from around your home-
town is a great place to start. The track plan depicts a small
town with a coal loading, a team track, and also an interchange
track. The team track and interchange track can handle a wide
variety of cars. A small layout like this is best operated with 40’
or 50’ freight cars.
Benchwork
Benchwork all will be EPS foam board. No wood is used. Where
I live in Las Vegas, Home Depot is the only place where 2’x4’
foam insulation board (white bead board) is sold. Extruded
foam board such as the pink and blue are much stronger, but
they are generally not sold to the public here, and are used by
roofing contractors only. For our purposes, EPS foam board will
work fine.
Foam provides a very dimensionally-stable benchwork. It does
not expand or contract with temperature or humidity. It comes
in two thicknesses: 1-1/2” and 2”. Also, the foam has a plastic
wrap on its outer faces that will need to be removed. You can
peel it off, but sometimes this can be a tedious process. You
will start with a base foam board of 2x4 feet. Next determine
how far you want to go below track level. Then laminate as
many foam boards to your base sheet as you will need to get
the desired depth.
Cut out any areas you want to go below track level with a key-
hole saw before you glue the foam together; do not cut your
base sheet. I use a yellow wood glue to glue the foam sheets
together. Any foam cut out can be used for land forms above
track level.
N Scale 2'X4' Layout - 5
MRH-May 2013
