.

I agree. Again, the click planking is not something I am in favour of at all.

I believe it was Battleship Linoleum.
I'm not looking for ideas for flooring. I already know what SHOULD be there. I'm just wondering if anyone tried the click planking. I want convince the other guys this is not the way to go.

In my opinion, the big reasons not to use laminates:

A railroad car would be an even more severe temperature environment than what AC5 commercial grade is designed to handle. I’d predict buckling due to expansion and contraction.

The interlocking style flooring requires the floor to float to adjust to temperature. You’re effectively pinning it down with coach seat bolts.

Moisture penetration can cause it to swell, buckle and eventually deteriorate.

If continuous moisture gets through to the underpayment and/or subfloor, you’ll have rot.

To replace a damaged panel, you have to disassemble the floor from one side to get to it.

If not perfectly flat and stable, they can be noisy.

In a gritty railroad environment, don’t expect the wear layer to last long through scratches and gouges.

I can probably think of more reasons if I sit here long enough. I’d consider laminates temporary at best in a railroad environment.

One thing I noticed up thread is the intended use of 1/4" plywood as underlayment for the vinyl plank. This is a bad idea. The click together plank is NOT waterproof, so water WILL seep down to the plywood, and take forever to dry. Meanwhile, the thin plywood will swell, buckle, and pull off the staples holding it to the subfloor. If using plywood, use at least 1/2" and screw it down. If using plywood under 'linoleum' (actually sheet vinyl these days) make sure it is rated as flooring. The difference is flooring plywood has defects in the top TWO plies plugged so a point load such as a slender heel doesn't break through to a void in the plies.

I just recently explored vinyl plank flooring, setting up a room for use by a person confined to a wheelchair. The salesman was all gung-ho, but the estimator raised questions about point loads imposed by the chair and Hoyer lift, and possible spillage from the ADA sink installed in the room. We ended up going with commercial sheet vinyl of the type used in hospitals; it's glued down with heat sealed seams. That would be the closest to the original available today.

By the way, that is a nice looking car. What car and where is it?

Dennis has a good point. The heavy grade of commercial sheet vinyl flooring would be a better option. Stay away from the thinner residential stuff.

I mentioned earlier the use of luan under any resilient flooring - it’s smooth and has no voids. You should go over the joints and screws or staples with leveling compound and then sand it.

The stiffness or deflection of the floor will be dependent on the thickness of the subfloor and the spans between anchorage. IIRC, in commercial buildings, you want L/360 meaning the floor doesn’t deflect more the 1/360th of the unsupported span. I don’t know what’s common in passenger cars but the stiffer, the better.

For underlayment, you want fasteners at the edges around 6” OC, 1’ in the field. Staples are acceptable and a lot faster with a pneumatic gun. Drive them at a slight angle so they’re harder to lift. I suppose you could use adhesive coated nails but I’ve never used them on luan or any wood underlayment. Your mileage may vary.

Marmoleum appears to be identical to the time-tested, long-wearing "Battleship Linoleum". It is available in traditional patterns and colors that hide dirt well.

- Doug Debs

https://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/All-Products/Flooring-Marmoleum?&search_query=all%20products%20%3E%20sustainable%20flooring%20%3E%20marmoleum&filter=Category_fq:%22Natural%20Linoleum%20Flooring%22&rows=44&view=grid&start=0&gclid=CjwKCAiAnZCdBhBmEiwA8nDQxR4lWyhH0j6JKXZpq_YeW6CyQ2WJUmz3hUmygbfvKhjZ0saAuxEuxBoCqjYQAvD_BwE

Marmoleum - Natural Linoleum Flooring

This is your parent's linoleum flooring, now branded as Marmoleum, made with 100% natural ingredients, just like before. However, the colors and designs have been updated in the form of Marmoleum Sheets, Marmoleum Tiles as well as an easy DIY Marmoleum Click Cinch Loc Click. Marmoleum is a cost-effective and easy-to-maintain solution for kitchen flooring and any other room in your home or office. Most people still confuse Marmoleum with kitchen vinyl flooring made in the ’50s which was synthetic and petroleum-based. Marmoleum was and continues to be made from renewable bio-based ingredients that are highly durable, non-toxic, naturally anti-microbial, and anti-bacterial. It is a natural flooring solution that is highly moisture resistant, very long-lasting, and easy to clean. .."

I'm going to play devil's advocate.

Three years ago we needed to add another coach to our Polar trains in a hurry. We did a quickie interior makeover of one of our ex-SP suburban coaches. In lieu of re-painting the concrete floor the boss decided to buy the clickable laminate flooring. Personally, I'm not in favor of it for historical/restoration purposes, but this car has been modified so much over the last 40 years that it didn't make much difference what we did. It went in fast and easy. The seasonal changes have had minimal effect on it. There is one spot at one end of the car where it buckled up slightly but that was due to not having enough "room to grow" at the sides (probably during the weeks of 90 deg. temps we had last summer).

Note that from the photo, you don't have any seat frames screwed to the floor, which will most definitely inhibit movement of the vinyl plank floor.

I don’t know right off where this is located but some places in Canada have ginormous temperature differentials with the potential of thermally induce damage. I’ve personally experienced 90F and -42F in Calgary. Fun fact: -42 is the same temperature in C and F. That, my friends, is cold enough to freeze the boogers in your nose.

Agreed. It's use with tables and chairs worked well. Spilled hot chocolate was easy to clean up, too. Eventually this car will get much more in-depth rehab work and will have walk-over seats installed. When that time comes, I don't think this type of floor will be an asset. I would be more inclined to properly prep the concrete floor and coat it with one of the high-tech garage floor coatings available today.

Speak of the devil. I just ordered some samples of Marmoleum from the manufacturer last night.