Roadbed, track securement, and wiring..

[yallaen]

Well, if you haven't seen the pics in my previous forum, "The start of the layout", you can see that I've made a huge dent in the layout. I got about 3/4 of the shelving brackets up, and the wood aligned. I've got the track mocked up for most of it. I need to wait for wife to wake up before I tackle the saw...and finish cutting the corner piece...and start the wall holes.

In the meantime..

I have the Woodland Scenics roadbed for O guage. What is the best way to secure this? The directions say to glue it down, and secure the track to it. And how do you make this stuff curve?

Whats the best type of screw to hold down the track?

Finally, I need to consider placement of my transformer, command pack, etc. I have room on the shelf, with a plug in that might be good. But I need to run wiring...so with this run, will one lock-on be enough? Or should I run one on both ends? Once the track is set and screwed down, I'm gonna solder the joints as well. I'll post more pics later

 

[Frank53]

I use cork rtoad bed over ceiling tiles for noise reduction. I glue the road bed with white Elmers glue. Around the curves, I super glue a few turning spots and use a barbell plate to hold it until adhered.

As for securing the track, I am fully ballasting my track and highly recommend it. If you get good ballast - Brennan's is what I am using and it is tip-top, the effect is well worth it. Moreover, when you glue down the ballast, it will hold the track in place in incredibly sturdy fashion. No need for any screws.

I am using a power feed every ten feet to keep the power feed consisten. Instead of using lockons, I have soldered the power feeds right to the track.

 

[marxalot]

I am not famliar with Woodland Senics roadbed but if it is similar to cork I used the following mounting technique gleaned from here and the MR forum: Use a clear adhesive caulk to glue the cork to the sub-roadbed (homosote for me) and use push pins through the cork into the sub-roadbed to hold it around curves until the glue dries. I got a box of 100 pins at Home Depot for $.99. The more the merrier. The caulk is good because it is not so rigid. The fewer rigid connections between track and roadbed and roadbed and suibroadbed the better for reducing noise transmission.  Right now I have a minimum of screws holding the track down. I am still debating whether to ballast the track. I have done that before in HO and noticed a marked increase in noise which makes sense as you use diluted white glue which makes a very rigid bond between the track and ballast; but to each his own.

 Jim

 

[dougdagrump]

If you are going to be putting this up closer to the ceiling I would suggest using a little dab of hot-melt glue to adhere the track to the foam roadbed especially if you go with tubular. If it was going to be at a lower level with much greater visibility then I would go with the ballasting & diluted white glue.

With the tubular track any screws that go thru to the plywood base will be a conduit for noise.

[yallaen]

Excellent idea! Wifey just happens to have one of those lol...

 

[riverrailfan]

From the height I seen of your layout I would build a seperate shelf lower for your transformer. I did this on my sons shelf layout and found plastic covers used to hide extension cords that use foamtape to attach it to the wall to hide the wires and make it look cleaner. I would suggest not to use the whole strip of foam tape to attach it to the wall as I did this and don't know how easy it will be to get it off.