Foam Core Tables

Not sure about foam.....but how about a interior door??? a 36" wide door can be had for about $20-25. Layout in a day that's easy to move and light.

Dave's idea is excellent!  The use of a flush faced hollow core door is a popular starting point for the N scalers.....light weight, flat, inexpensive, ready to use. 

If you did as Dave suggested...X4...you could put together a nice sized base table of 6' X 13'4".  (standard door height is 6'-8").  You could build right onto the top surface, but a layer or two of homosote would help with the sound.  (after all, hollow boxes are the basis of stringed musical instrument amplification!!)  A final layer of green I/O carpet and you're ready to lay track!  Simple commercial collapsible sawhorses will support the  doors.  (Stanley makes a great set)  Lots of ways to temporarily clamp the sections together from below.

Re the doors....Go to a door store.  That is, a store that specializes in doors.   Reason?  When we built our store's (LHS) N scale layout in a similar manner (single door), we found that the local specialty store had some bargains you won't find at a big box home improvement.  Tell them what you're going to use the doors for.  Tell them you DON'T want the lock and knob holes pre-bored.  And, you DON't want first quality surface finishes.  We found they had a stack of these in the back warehouse that were perfect for layout bases, but would never pass muster for a residential interior door, for one reason or another. 

Have someone handy with a sewing machine?   Cheap bed sheets (non-fitted) cut down and stitched together (on Singer's 'notch 8' setting! ) with a few pleats makes a nice inexpensive skirt for the display.  Velcro, snaps, hooks, thumbtacks....lots of ways to attach to the outer edge of the doors.

Sounds like a fun project!

Show us some pictures...with kids... when done!

KD

The attached pictures show the start of  my module(s) construction from 2" foam. Corners hold up to 0-99 curves and straight modules are about 30" wide by 4' long. Outer frames are 1" X 4"s and cross braces are 1" X 2"s. Legs are 2" X 2"s that support the corners of the foam & cross-braces support bottom of foam along the span.

We used pink foam framed like D&H65 shows above for our club's original modular setup. We glued a 1/8" sheet of Luan to the undersurface of the foam. It WAS light and rigid but over time the foam seemed to swell ever so slightly and we had quite a few alignment issues as well as leveling due to the foam not being completely uniform in thickness.

It was stored in a basement at the building we rented and there was a moisture problem that certainly aggravated the situation.

The foam was quite loud as well as pointed out by AMC Dave 

c. sam: I found that Woodland Scenics foam roadbed glued to the pink foam quiets track noise down significantly.  I installed Atlas"O" track on the roadbed, ballasted the track and glued the ballast down with white glue. The glue holds the ballast and track in place; I have no screws holding down track at all. Turnouts are held in-place by adjoining track sections.

I have not seen swelling issues to date, but my layout(s) have been in a climate controlled basement or interior room. My track alignment has not been an issue.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.  The Home Depot Shelves was a great idea.  I was looking for a light weight modular layout system to take to train shows for the kids to operate and push buttons for accessories.  Something in the 6x8 range that could be set up in a matter of minutes.

Also, for cheap doors, consider Goodwill or a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The knob hole will need camouflage, but most used doors cost about $5.