Union Pacific branchline

The railroad measures 2 x 4 feet in size. The base is 1/2-inch plywood with 1-inch styrofoam (the beaded kind) glued on top. Cork roadbed is glued on top of the styrofoam, and the tack is attached to the cork using bonded ballast. The track is all Atlas code 70, with #4 manual switches. The layout has 3 blocks: mainline, yard, and siding. Currently all are wired together, but it is set up so that a switcher can work the yard while the mainline engine does its stuff. If the switcher needs to use the mainline, the road loco can be placed on the siding and isolated.

The layout is designed for operation. There is space for 4-8 industries, 1-2 interchange tracks, a yard, and a diesel service area. I have not yet determined what industries or where they will be. Operation will use computer-aided dispatching based on a card-order system. The layout will be operating like a branchline: switch the yard, run to the end of the branch and switch the interchange and industries there, return to the yard, finish switching, and tie up for the night. No passenger service is planned (indeed, there is no space for a depot). Industries will reflect the Pacific Northwest: wood products, agriculture, general freight.

I currently operate with a UP Atlas GP35 and a few Micro Trains cars. Trackwork is complete, ballast is partially done, but no other scenery has yet been built. I plan to use layers of foam to build up mountains, and place a town in the center of the layout. Scenery with be mostly sagebrush, a few pine trees, and lots of yellow weeds.

Notes, lessons learned, etc.

• Styrofoam is great! It is very lightweight and easy to use. I used Liquid Nails to glue it down and have had no problems. The layout is light enough I can carry it outside to do messy scenery work, and can easily lean it up against the wall when not in use (which is seldom). To run wiring, I just cut a "trench" in the foam and lay the wires in that. I have not yet experimented with below-track scenery (rivers, ponds, etc) but that would be very easy to add.
• Don't use beaded styrofoam: it breaks/dents/cracks easily, especially at the edges of the layout. I chose it because it was cheap, and the beads look kind of like basalt-block rocks when painted, but wish I'd selected the "blue-board" stryofoam instead.
• I tried using white glue for ballast; it worked, but I wasn't pleased with the result. I tried a 1:1 ratio of Matte Medium to water; it looks much better and holds very well (much better than white glue). I thoroughly wet all my ballast with straight alcohol, then liberally add the Matte Medium mixture with an eyedropper.