My grandson is fascinated with trains.  I want to build a layout for him in our guest room.  It will be 8" x 4' area.  I have been gathering information and parts, materials rolling stock etc.  I have a mixed bag of easy track and reg track with no roadbed attached.  I want this to be a permanent installation and need to decide which track to concentrate on getting.  All of the track has been accumulated by winning actions on other things on ebay. 

So I picked up an unfinished 4x8 layout from a guy today, full figure 8 plus sidings ect.

The entire thing is flex track (I'm thinking code 100) and on cork roadbed.  Came with 20 cars and 2 engines, transformer, switch machine (old atlas table top type) and some scenery (mostly just extra ballast); all for $40!

I grabbed it just for the track, but when I got it home, I found out that neither the track nor the cork roadbed was glued down!  just nailed!  Score!

Well, it's lovely weather outside and I've decided to start on a major refurb' on my garden railway, the "Humpybong and District Rly". 

It doesn't snow in Brisbane but it does cop a heavy downpour or two.

What has everyone used for the subroadbed and roadbed of their layouts "out there" ?

I am getting ready to start building my first N Scale helix.  I have designed the helix with trapezoids I will need 36 1/8" pieces per turn of the helix. The rough size of the pieces are 3 3/4" x 6 3/4".  Should I use birch plywood or Masonite?  The Masonite is cheaper, but the birch might be a little stronger.  I am planning on making slotted supports for the levels to slide on to the sides of the helix.

Thanks,

Ryan