Temporary way

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RMurphy195
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Temporary way

Post by RMurphy195 » Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:13 pm

As opposed to permanent way!

Having fun using my new brunel on its oval of MSS track, but the lawn isn't flat, and it gets a bit tedious assembling the track then getting it up again.

The obvious solution is to attach the track to a board, then simply lift the board (in sections if need be) and stand them against a wall - possibly outdoors.

Anyone done this? And would something like OSB do the trick?

Thanks - Richard

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Peter Butler
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Re: Temporary way

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:21 pm

Richard, OSB is not suitable as it is definitely not waterproof. Boards such as 'exterior grade' plywood might be suitable, although they tend to be thicker, therefore heavier, and with a maximum width of 4ft. They also tend to be much more expensive than standard ply and I would still strongly recommend that you cover it with plastic sheet when not in use.
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Re: Temporary way

Post by Garethh » Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:00 am

How about scaffolding planks cut at angles and joined together to form an octagon or similar that the track will fit on, should be fairly weather resistant and then you can roll it about to save lifting an awkward board?

RMurphy195
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Re: Temporary way

Post by RMurphy195 » Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:54 am

Thanks both, OSB is out of the window then.

I like the idea of the scaffolding planks and the octagon shape, something like that would be much easier to handle than a big rectangle.

My track is the MSS product which interlocks, so I would find it difficult to make the board into sections without breaking the tabs off some of the bits of track, which I'm reluctant to do at present. Perhaps there's a way around this?

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BorisSpencer
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Re: Temporary way

Post by BorisSpencer » Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:09 pm

I've found OSB to be surprisingly resilient. I have some station areas where I used OSB because I got some offcuts for free.
The most important thing is not to allow wood to sit in direct contact with the ground, and when applying preservative to pay particular attention to the edges.

Once cut to size I treated my OSB with a generous coat of fence-life (as I have the decking boards that form the majority of the track bed) and then gave it two coats of masonry paint (tester pots from the local DIY store).

So far it has successfully got through two winters, this year I repainted with masonry paint as it had peeled in places but they are holding up well, mainly I suspect, because of the high resin content.
If I can get five years with minimal maintenance from something that was free I will be happy.

RMurphy195
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Re: Temporary way

Post by RMurphy195 » Wed Jul 08, 2020 10:53 am

BorisSpencer wrote: โ†‘Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:09 pm I've found OSB to be surprisingly resilient. I have some station areas where I used OSB because I got some offcuts for free.
The most important thing is not to allow wood to sit in direct contact with the ground, and when applying preservative to pay particular attention to the edges.

Once cut to size I treated my OSB with a generous coat of fence-life (as I have the decking boards that form the majority of the track bed) and then gave it two coats of masonry paint (tester pots from the local DIY store).

So far it has successfully got through two winters, this year I repainted with masonry paint as it had peeled in places but they are holding up well, mainly I suspect, because of the high resin content.
If I can get five years with minimal maintenance from something that was free I will be happy.
Thanks for that Boris - I have plenty of fence preservative and left-over decking oil, it sounds as if treating OSB with one those, and maybe sticking to the gravelled area of the garden or just not leaving the board lying on the lawn for too long should do it, perhaps with some battens on the back (which can be disposed of if they rot) might suit my needs. The grandchildren could then pop buildings and things onto the track when they come round (would replicate my grandsons trainset, his dad has made a board with track pinned to it that slides under his bed when not in use, Lego does the buildings when it comes out of hiding!)

My local timber yard stock it in 11mm and 18mm thickness', tempted to go for the 11mm for lightness, with some treated battens on the back (roofing laths should do the trick).

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FWLR
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Re: Temporary way

Post by FWLR » Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:27 am

Scaffolding boards would be really heavy. Have you lifted one of them 13' ones. So even if you cut it down to make an octagon would be really heavy. Depending on how big you want to make the boards from OSB, you could get a 8 x 4 and cut it in half and then do what BorisSpencer suggested. But I would put two or even three coats of preservative on them.

Unfortunately for some reason I can't load the photo even though I have before in my NEW FWLR thread.. :scratch: This is what I have used for the board I had at my last address. It called Zinsser B-I-N White Multi-surface Matt Primer. It's a thin primer and does splash and drip if you don't take it easy. It dries very quickly about 30 minutes. I didn't paint over it, maybe you could.

This one I used on my bridge and this is great stuff also, you can get this in different colours.

464D6A94-81E3-41CB-B410-F10965D744A3.jpeg
464D6A94-81E3-41CB-B410-F10965D744A3.jpeg (442.98 KiB) Viewed 3783 times

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