Possible dumb question

[Anonymous]

Okay, okay I admit I'm REALLY new at this. When I was a kid it was HO race cars not the trains, that was Dad's thing. Now a little background material. My benchwork is 1/4" plywood overa 2x4 frame covered for the moment with 1/2" insulation grade foam (pink). I'm going to lay roadbed for my tracks just not sure yet wether it will be cork or foam. Now to the question. "How would you fasten the roadbed AND the tracks in place"? Glue, nails, etc..........?[banghead]

[tstage]

Not a dumb question at all.

The roadbed can be glued down with either Elmer's white or Elmer's wood glue. There's also some stuff that you can pick up at either Home Depot or your local hardware store that's called Liquid Nails*. The great thing about it: You can apply it with a caulking gun. The track can be glued down as well.

*Correction: Heed Karlb's wise advice below about using ONLY latex Liquid Nails, as the non-latex ones will attack the foam. (Bet that was a bummer to find out for the first time.) Sorry for forgetting this important detail. [:(]

First word of advice: Don't be afraid to pick up a book on track laying at your local hobby store. Model Railroader has one that will give you a lot of good tips and advice.

I don't know if you've decided yet on our track plan. Take your time. One of the beauties of the extruded foam insulation is that you can use track spikes to temporarily lay down your trackage and test out your design ideas. The foam is dense enough and the track spikes are the right size to fit into the holes in the end and middle of sectonal track to hold it in place very well. (Enough to keep the rail joiners from working apart.) The only down side that I've found is that once you pull up a tack and place it down into the same hole, it isn't quite as firm. But, you can try out your ideas and the track stays in place.

Second word of advice: Don't be TOO hasty to plunk down your roadbed until you KNOW FOR SURE you are happy with your layout design.

I just built my first table for my HO layout three months ago. I've enjoyed trying out this idea or that idea. Currently, I only have my track tacked down with a few buildings and trees. No roadbed yet. I'm farily close to my final version but I'm not rushing it. If I want to rip up a portion or all of it to try out a different idea, it's really easy and I haven't wasted any materials. [:)]

Once you figure out your layout design, THEN glue down your cork or foam roadbed. It would probably be a good idea to solder you track together as you lay it down so that you'll get better performance out of your locomotives. (Again, the MR track book will help you with all the ins and outs of that.)

Last word of advice: Take your time and enjoy the planning and experiementing. [^] By the way, welcome to the club!

Tom
(aka Still learning)

[DSchmitt]

Glue: Nails won't hold for long on foam. Lately I've glued track on cork over foam with nails to hold the track in place while the glue is drying (then removed). I've done the same on directly on foam. I've used the same method for almost 40 years with track on cork over wood and track directly on wood. One advantage to cork is that if a location is troublesome (as far as keeping alignment) nails can be left in or added, but I wouldn't use them alone for "permanent" instalations of track.

I use Elmers or other similar glues as suggested by Tom. If you decide to change alignment in the future the glue joint is easy to break using a putty knife. If you are careful much of the track will be reuseable. Generally, I don't glue switches, just glue the track on every approach.

I haven't used it on a layout yet, but I have done a small test piece with AMI roadbed. It sees like a nice product.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage

Not a dumb question at all.
The roadbed can be glued down with either Elmer's white or Elmer's wood glue. There's also some stuff that you can pick up at either Home Depot or your local hardware store that's called Liquid Nails. The great thing about it: You can apply it with a caulking gun. The track can be glued down as well.

[

Liquid nail works great but be careful. Get the Liquid Nails for LATEX, not just regular liquid nails. Regular liquid nails will melt through foam until it rests on another material.

[leighant]

Don't worry about asking dumb questions. Just worry about making dumb ASSUMPTIONS.

I once worked as a TV reporter. Another reporter was shy of asking someone's name, title etc because he figured he should already know it and didn't want to admit his ignorance, so he stepped to one side and asked, who is thatr person I was just talking to? I discovered from that guy's frequest bobbles (and a few of my own) that it is better to admit unsureness and check your facts, than to make a mistake in front of thousands of viewers!

[dano99a]

nails first until your happy with it, then use glue to secure it

my 2 cents...

[darth9x9]

Your local home supply center should cary Latex Liquid Nails for Projects. Works great on securing foam to foam and other items to foam.

[Mark300]

Not a dumb question at all.....just remember in the real world, the tracks simply sit on the road bed. Gravity, the 1-1/2" wheel flange, a good alignment/grade design, good opereating practices and the laws of phsyics do the rest. The tracks are only attached to structures like bridges.

I agree with the other posts...make sure you like your layout and it works for your enjoyment.

If you are not picking up, turning over or otherwise moving the layout, let gravity do most of the work and keep attachment minimal.

Tighter curves and higher speeds found in model railroading cause all kinds of misalignments and wrecks. Debug your alignment; make sure joints meet, add easements in and out of your curves, add superelevation to your curves, remove any kinks in the alignment and try to operate at 'a real model speed,' (DCC is great for model speeds scaled to mimic those found in the real world). Then 'glue it down.'

The neat thing about foam is that it has a similar scale density to the loose soils and clays found in the real world so foam presents similar challenges like those found in the 'real world;' They don't actually glue the track to the ballast in the real world.

If you use one of the 'Eazy" track systems that combine track and ballast; you can rout and shape the foam, then embed the track slightly, tack gluing only as needed. What you give up in alignment limitations you get back in running realiability.

This can be alot Fun!

HTH

Mark

[Anonymous]

cork!!!

[johncolley]

Hold on a moment...Liquid nails dries HARD, and transmits sound. I have found something much better. DAP clear silicone adhesive, not the caulking, use a dab every 3-6 inches along each side of the centeline for your cork roadbed, then do the same along the centerline for your track. much quieter running and you can hear the clikity-clack of the wheels going over the joints. Much easier later, too, if you decide to change something, just use a putty knife to lift the track.