Plastic Baseboards

New materials - 2 September 2012

I want to bury my junction in raised borders so I have been experimenting with new (to me) materials.

I have replaced the crude wooden "plank" through the house wall with 16mm PVC supported along the edges with 35mm aluminium angle. The angle is screwed to the PVC from below.

Peco track is glued to the PVC with Bostik All Purpose adhesive and ballasted using my normal method with Ronseal Outdoor Clear Satin Varnish. I completed this a few months ago and so far it has proved robust through sun and rain but it remains to be seen how it fairs through the winter.

The pictures show that my cables could do with a tidy up. The outside view will be better when the hebes have grown a bit more on both sides. I have left a gap in the PVC between two sleepers in line with the brick wall so that water dripping from the wall can drain away. So far I have not had any problems from puddles forming on the track.

The two small circles near the top of the wooden sides of the hole are magnets to hold the wooden hatch which keeps mice out when not in use.

I am looking at recycled plastic sheets (Stokbord or Ecosheets) and lumbar for my new junctions boards.

Junction Upgrade - 3 October 2012

Not a very good picture I'm afraid. I guess it is due to the white paper. However it shows the beginning of my plan to upgrade the junction next year.

It is looking in the opposite direction to the picture in my Loops blog entry. The main line is reduced to double track here and swings to the left.

A double track junction reduces to a single track over the patio and into the house. The single track from the other leg of the junction joins at the bridge over the patio.

The bridge has a removable cover over it because it is built with ply and has no other protection.

I have Templotted the triangular junction and this is to check that my measurements match the ground. This first leg is looking good.

I am hoping to look at some recycled plastic sheet, called Ecosheet, at the end of the month. If it looks as good as it does on the web then I plan to use it to replace the wooden baseboards and build the garden up to the top of the board.

Recycled Plastic - 6 November 2012

I bought my first 2 sheets of recycled plastic http://wynnstayonline.co.uk/farming-agricultural-products/stokbord/ecosheet.html last week from http://www.wynnstay.co.uk/ at Uttoxeter. I made a rig to secure it to my roof rails to move it from Uttoxeter to my friend's house in Derby. I used my Templot templates to cut it into smaller pieces to fit inside the car to bring it home.

I used a jig saw to cut the curved shapes. The heat from the blade tended to reseal the join as I cut but it was easy to snap apart once finished.

This material has good surfaces but the centre is not quite solid. I have started to build one of the junction boards using a 5" deep frame. I reckon an 8' length will need support at both ends and in the middle.

I cut the frame members to width using my table saw. The cross cuts were made with my circular saw. I am using 2" no.8 wood screws through one thickness into the end grain. This seems to make a secure joint. I have screwed the cross pieces to one longitudinal frame member at 17" between centres.

The picture below shows my attempt to prebend the side pieces before screwing the second piece in place.

First Board - 8 November 2012

Here is my first board using recycled plastic http://wynnstayonline.co.uk/farming-agricultural-products/stokbord/ecosheet.html. It is sitting on top of my existing track. The radius is easier than before at 12'.

This will be the main junction at one corner of my triangular junction. Now to build the second corner board.

I have started experimenting with track laying. It looks like I can continue to lay felt using Wickes felt adhesive to raise the track slightly from the baseboard top. Unlike uPVC I have successfully welded a C&L sleeper to this plastic with butanone. That suggests I can use it as the base for platforms and weld embossed plastikard to it for brickwork and slabs.

Second Board - 11 November 2012

Having cut 5 more lengths for framing I notice that each length has a bow of 1/4" along its length. Turning it on its side the bow just about disappears under its own weight. I hadn't noticed that with the first board but since I have cut a consistent 5" width starting from the edge of 2 different Ecosheets I can only assume it was present in the original sheets. I will check that when I buy some more.

I will assemble this board more carefully with the bow high in the middle and see if it disappears as I assemble it.

The picture below shows my experiments in tracklaying and ballasting. The left hand version is roofing felt layed with Wickes felt adhesive. The Templot paper template is layed on top with the same adhesive. The sleepers are then attached to the template with Butanone. Finally the ballast is layed in my usual fashion, loose at first and then Ronseal outdoor satin varnish diluted 50:50 with white spirit dribbled on with a pipette.

For the right hand version I sellotaped the template to the plastic and then layed the sleepers using Butanone. This fixed paper and sleepers to the plastic. The sellotape was then removed and ballast layed as normal. However I am not convinced about the bond of paper to plastic between the sleepers. I think another time I would at least cut the paper back to the sleeper ends. However I think I prefer the left hand version with the slightly deeper look. I will leave this outside to see how it weathers.

Tracklaying - 14 November 2012

I have recovered my attempts at tracklaying on to recycled plastic from the garden.

The felted version is the more successful. I can lift the felt using a scraper but I think it will be secure enough. For maintenance purposes it may be useful being able to separate felt from plastic but the question is whether the felt will move over time and cause problems.

My attempt at welding the sleepers with butanone through the paper template directly to the plastic has not worked. It may be that I should have used more butanone as the single sleeper that I welded without a paper barrier is still secure. However I think I will persevere with the felted option. A longer trial will be needed to see if that is the best option.

Joining Boards - 19 November 2012

I have completed my second board. The bow in the framing does not seem to be a problem as the material is quite flexible. It does suggest I will need plenty of support.

I had intended keeping the number of joins in the tops and framing to a minimum based on the maximum length of board of 8ft. However I have discovered that the thickness of the Ecosheet varies a little bit. Since it is most important that the tops are level with each other I cannot run framing from one board to the next. That suggests designing the framing to finish at each join with overlapping side pieces set to maintain the level tops, like this.

The joining pieces have been screwed to the thicker top first. Then they are screwed to the second board to maintain the level top surface. I may provide extra support for the top edges by screwing a further piece underneath spaced off the thinner top with plastikard. Here is a view from above.

Final assembly is with screws. Once installed in the garden I don't expect to be taking the boards apart. Another board carrying a diverging single track will plug into the remaining gap at the right hand side of join.

Third Board - 26 November 2012

I have completed my third board using Ecosheet.

Two of the boards contain the pointwork at two of the corners of my triangular junction. The third connects these two boards and only contains plain double track. I plan to lay the track on this board and see how it weathers the rest of the winter.

This is the framework under two of the boards:

and here is the top surface:

Done for Winter - 6 December 2012

I think that is it for the winter now that the colder weather has come.

The following picture shows my three recycled plastic boards and two panels for each of the up and down main lines.

We will see over the next few months if frost will be a problem. I hope to make more progress with the track in the spring when the conservatory warms up and install the boards over the summer.

With my wooden baseboards I felt constrained to not drilling holes in the top surface so that my drop wires had to be laid across the surface and over the side of the board to the connector blocks. I don't feel so constrained with the plastic and so I have fed the drop wires down through the surface of the board and then out of the side into the connector.

My attention will now move back to my 3mm layout.

Two Boards Installed - 21 June 2013

I have installed the first two boards made from Ecosheet.

The boards are supported at each of the three ends and across the middle with a concrete block cemented to a concrete base. A piece of Ecosheet is used as packing between the top of the block and the basebord framework. I intended to add additional spacers on top of the Ecosheet if required but the boards have turned out level without. Now I have to connect the trackwork from the new boards to the rest of the layout.

Click on the image for a bigger picture.

Problems with Ecosheet - 12 September 2013

I connected the track and points on my two Ecosheet boards, as shown below, but the hot weather caused problems due to expansion. I am seeing about 10mm expansion over an 8 foot length. This is opening up rail joints and causing problems with points moving around the control wires. It is consistent with the Ecosheet Data Sheet (which I have now read!) which suggests 3-4mm per metre.

Wherever possible I had physical rail joints at every other 60 foot panel. This concentrates track movement in only a few places so I have started creating physical joints for every rail joint, especially the joints in the stock rails of the points. This has helped.

I used roofing felt between track and Ecosheet. For my next board I am using a more flexible layer as shown below.

The white underlay was left over from a friend's laminate flooring. I don't know if this will survive in the rain or how it will react to glues.

I started with my Templot printouts on A4 paper sheets. These were sellotaped to a piece of melamine faced board and the sleepers fixed to the paper with Butanone. Rail and chairs were fixed to the sleepers using butanone. I am building each 60ft panel as a separate unit cutting it from the template along the sleeper edges.

I cut a piece of laminate underlay to fit under the sleepers and fixed it on to the Ecosheet surface using a bead of Bostik down the middle. The track panel on the paper template was then laid on to the underlay using another bead of Bostik down the middle.

The laminate underlay seems to offer quite a flexible join between track and Ecosheet. I ballasted this track in my usual way by spreading the bird grit dry and then applying the 50/50 outdoor satin varnish and white spirit mix using a pipette. Each panel is joined to the next using C&L fishplates soldered to the rails on one panel only so that each panel is free to move. I have laid two panels so far.

I am now building a point. The plan is to fix the sleepers around the switch and the insulated rail joints to pieces of 2mm plastic sheet using Butanone so that the geometry is maintained but the plastic sheets will not be fixed to the Ecosheet so they are free to move as units. The rest of the point timbers will be laid on laminate underlay as for the plain track.

I am hoping to complete one track on this board and get that installed outside before the winter. I will use that as a trial through the winter and early summer before committing to this method of construction for the remaining track on this board which includes a further three points and a diamond crossing.

This has not stopped me buying another two sheets of Ecosheet but I need to complete my experiments before I go much further.

More Tracklaying - 14 June 2015

Here is my latest attempt at track laying on to Ecosheet.

I have used two layers of laminate flooring underlaying. This material is like an inert foam. I have stuck one layer to the Ecosheet with Copydex. The other layer is stuck to the underside of the paper track template with Copydex and then stuck to the bottom layer again with Copydex.

Ballast is laid dry and then my usual 50/50 mix of outdoor varnish and white spirit dribbled on with a pipette.

This has introduced a degree of flexibility between track and Ecosheet. Let's hope it works.