Model Train Benchwork – Why Can’t I Build My Model Train Kit Directly on The Bench?

It is good to have some kind of bench so that you don’t have to rebuild on the floor every time you want to see your model and putting of the floor can be dangerous due to carpet fur or even people standing on your precious trains.

So a bench is often the way forward and there are many different benches to choose from but often they start with a plywood base.

Why Can’t I Build My Model Train Kit Directly on The Bench?

I often see this question asked in forums about building model train benchwork and it is a reasonable question.

Most books and guides giving advice or help about constructing benches for trains will advise you to put a foam layer (or other soft material) down before laying the track on the plywood for the following reasons:

1) It is simply noisy.

If you lay track directly onto the wood, the noise of the train running over the track will be very high. Not only that, but the wood can actually amplify the noise to unpleasant levels. Certainly your family or friends will get tired of it even if you can put up with it.

2) Easy to lay wires and cables.

You will almost certainly have wires and cable running around to operate different parts of your model and having a foam base makes it very simple to hide these cables in the foam.

Otherwise, you would need to run tracks in the wood and this is time consuming and messy.

3) Life Like Ballast

In the real world, train tracks are often elevated above actual ground level with ballast so that the tracks can be kept level.

In the model world, using foam re-creates the realism of train track giving your model a look of authenticity.