Wiring a door layout !?

[amszterpeter]

I have managed to negotiate space for a door size layout with the kanai (Japanese for wife). It would make sense to use a hollow core door for the "bench work", but I wonder whether drilling many holes through the 1 3/8" door would impact its integrity. If any of you used a door for a layout, please share your wiring experience with me.

Thank you in advance.

amszterpeter

[velotrain]

I think you would need to drill a whole lot of holes to impact the structural integrity.  You might consider adding another layer on top, as I have heard that door layouts can reverberate the running sound.  One thought is to run most of your wiring between the door and a layer of insulation foam, so you would need only a few holes in the door.

 

The American magazine Model Railroader has run construction articles on a number of door layouts over the years, so you might see if you can find any of those online. 

 

Have you tried doing a search on wiring for door layouts?

 

I'd recommend a 36" wide door so you can have wider curves for passenger trains.

[ozman2009]

I agree with velotrain that you'd have to drill very many holes to affect the integrity of a hollow core door. If you do decide to use such a door, you might find it difficult to thread wires through a hole that goes through a layer of ply, a thickness of filler (whatever it is) and another layer of ply. You could get around this by first inserting an appropriate length of plastic drinking straw as a conduit.