Homasote, foam insulation, cork, plywood, HELPPPPPPPP!!!!! - Model Railroader Magazine

After moving halfway across the country, in April '05 I began  building my first layout in over ... well, in a good long time. I started with Mianne benchwork and plywood. Mianne seems kinda flimsy, and with the humidity and temperature fluctuations here in the Midwest, by August my plywood sheets looked like round-bottomed boats!

 I found that hardboard doesn't warp and is very stiff even with supports only every 2 feet, but it doesn't take a track nail worth a hoot.

Right now I have several 2" thick 2' x 4'  blue foam sections sitting next to the benchwork, waiting for me to make a decision about whether to continue using Mianne's pre-fab benchwork or switch to Sievers. (Don't even think about asking me to put together my own benchwork. I'm not in this hobby to become a carpenter. People have learned to keep power tools away from me. This also exempts me from using the cookie-cutter method, so I'm looking at using WS inclines and risers.)

Do I sound like an old curmudgeon?

You purists will get a kick out of this: I'm also using "sectional" track! Like one of the other correspondents here, I've tried EZ Track and UniTrack, and Kato gets the nod -- it's Code 83, n/s, and looks pretty good after I've spray-painted it brown [go ahead, cringe. I'm interested in running trains. This is called model railroading, right? Not model carpentry or model electrician or model painting or whatever else -- although you can get as wrapped up in any of these as you want. That's one of the great things about this hobby. I like running trains, sometimes even kinda like the prototype]. I like my railroad models to look good, but if my layout never makes the pages of RMC or MR, I couldn't care less. (Although I enjoy seeing other peoples' wonderful work.)

Don't let me get on a rant here (with apologies to Dennis Miller), but the current craze for "prototypical realism" cracks me up. All this attention to getting the little details, hoses, etc., just exactly right is OK -- I actually admire someone whose eyesight and patience is that good -- but don't pretend it's prototypical and realistic -- unless you've gotten rid of your Kadee couplers with that uncoupling wire sticking down there. Realistic? Hardly. Besides, what prototypical railroad uses magnetic uncoupling? And sound? Give me a break. A 9" long GP-30 emitting tinny sounds imitating a locomotive 87 times its size fools no one and to me sounds worse than no sound. If our equipment was really prototypically correct, it would not only make sounds, it would spew smoke, steam (in the case on steam locomotives), sand, oil, and any number of other substances that "prototype" locomotives do. (Heck, maybe someday they will!)

If you've read this far you probably think I'm a real grump, but actually I'm a very happy person because my approach to model railroading is just as viable as any other, and I get the results I want. And I'm not putting down anyone who does this hobby any other way. Just don't look down your PC (prototypically correct) nose at other modelers because they choose to do some things more expediently.

This post started off being about plywood vs. foam. Hmmmm. Things got off the rails somewhere...

Bring back the Fallen Flags!