Bachmann Trains & Accessories

Model Railroad Foam Insulation
Model Railroad Foam Insulation

Building Model Railroad Benchwork

Benchwork is what we call the support structure of your model train scenery and layout. It may not be as exciting as running your trains or detailing a locomotive, but, taking some time designing and building a solid foundation for your layout will pay off in leaving you plenty of time to enjoy your hobby. And some time soon, your wife is going to want to eat in the dining room!

Your benchwork is going to be determined by a number of things to consider, including: how much space you have, your layout goals, fixed or movable, and will you want to take all or part of your layout to shows, conventions, your friends house?

There are two options to benchwork – you can purchase a kit, which is easily assembled and taken apart, or you can build your own. If you build your own, you can make it permanent, or modular.

While kits are fairly straightforward to assemble (you read the instructions, right?), building benchwork from scratch require minimal skills working with wood and tools.

A note here before we continue on about a few less common alternatives – shelving and shoe boxes. The British are masters at shelving layouts, using one or two walls for a ‘point to point’ layout (no loop). These are usually created with smaller sections, two to four feet in length. And shoe boxes – if you are working in the smaller scales, say ‘N’ scale or smaller, there are a growing number of model railroaders building shoebox scenes, leaving attachment points so they can be mated with other scenes, creating a larger layout.

Benchwork Particulars

If you are building your own benchwork, it’s a good idea to start with smaller modules. That way you can expand your layout over time (sometimes a lifetime!) Build a framework up to 2×6 feet out of 1×4 lumber. Add 1×4s inside the frame to create a grid with spacing about 2×2 feet. This provides a solid and level platform to work on. From here, you can either attach ½” plywood directly, or as some do, attach 2″ thick extruded foam insulation (available at home centers). This material is light, strong, and easy to work with.

Construct your benchwork using screws, so that you can dis-assemble it if need be.Using foam insulation, you can vary the elevation of your landscape, carving into it to create depressions for water or valleys, and gluing on to it to add hills and mountains. Make sure you use the correct adhesive for the material you have.

Benchwork is the foundation upon which you are going to build your model railroad layout. Make sure it’s sturdy, and fits your needs both now and for the future. And have fun!

About the Author

Scott Watkins is a model train enthusiast, and enjoys teaching others how to get starting in this fantastic hobby. His free mini-course gets you started with the basics of the hobby, while bypassing lots of the mistakes that can be made. Read more about HO train layouts, and subscribe to his quick-start ecourse at http://www.Model-Train-Info.com

The HO Scale Golden Valley Railroad