Use of plastic products in building track bed

[DenisM]

Hi,
We are building a garden railway at the Cutteslowe Park miniature railway in Oxford. We were thinking of using recycled plastic products in the construction, this being longer lasting than wood, hopefully vandal proof and maintenance free, the support posts are all scaffold poles.
What I would like to ask is has anyone experience of using a product called Stokbord recycled plastic sheets or a product called EHB board both from Filcris, failing that has any one other suggestions. We are new to this gauge of track and were thinking of using plywood with felt hot tarred on it but understand that it can get water affected and rot.
Our worry is that recycled plastic sheets can expand in the heat and bubble up.
Any comments welcomed.

DenisM

[ge_rik]

Welcome to the forum DenisM

I can't answer your questions about plastic trackbeds, but I know some on here have used Filcris. My experience of plywood is limited but not very positive. No matter which product I chose, it had a tendency to delaminate. Again, there are others whose experiences might be better.

I hope you keep us informed as to progress.

Rik
BTW - What gauge are you planning to use?

[philipy]

Hi Denis and welcome.
I can't help directly with Filcris products, but several members have used it and there seems to be a bit of a 'Marmite' feeling with two schools of thought: Wonderful, or Not Wonderful! If you do a forum search for "Filcris" it will bring up quite a few hits.

Like Rik, I wouldn't use plywood in any form because whatever you do, it WILL delaminate. I've sucessfully used decking boards myself. Some have been out for about 10 years and when I did some layout mods back in the summer, the ones I relocated were fine. They are easy to get and available in various widths at reasonable prices.

Hope this helps. Please keep us updated on your progress.

[GAP]

Filcris actually have a "Garden Railway" line of products
https://www.filcris.co.uk/category/gard ... y-products
https://www.filcris.co.uk/page/recycled ... nformation

[DenisM]

Welcome to the forum DenisM

I can't answer your questions about plastic trackbeds, but I know some on here have used Filcris. My experience of plywood is limited but not very positive. No matter which product I chose, it had a tendency to delaminate. Again, there are others whose experiences might be better.

I hope you keep us informed as to progress.

Rik
BTW - What gauge are you planning to use?

We are doing two tracks 1 x 32mm and 1 x 45mm.