Glue or nail tracks down

[SWA737]

Very nice website on your WMRY. Looks great and thanks for the advice.

Rob

[Anonymous]

I personally use white glue held in place by foam nails or push pins for both my cork roadbed and track. I have used nails before, and more than often I would hit/push the nail to hard and it would bend the ties. I have also heard by using nails you run the risk of pushing the nails down to far and therefore twisting the rails in the process, which caused derailments.

Norman.....

[maxman]

Starting my layout in HO code 83 and wanted to know if I should nail or glue the track on the cork roadbed. It will be a large layout when it is done (30X28) walk around so I want to get it right the first time. Thanks for all input.

Rob

You don't say if you are using cork over foam, cork over plywood, or cork over homasote over plywood.  If you are using cork over foam, then you will probably use caulk for everything.  In my opinion, neither the foam nor the cork will hold track nails securely over the long term.

If you use cork over plywood, then you can use either track nails or caulk.  However, as someone else mentioned, there is a possibility that the track nails will transmit some noise through to the plywood.  Plus you will have to use a little more care driving the nails because the plywood will want to resist them.

I used homasote sheet to cover the plywood, and then cork for the roadbed.  I also used track nails.  These will penetrate the cork and into the homasote, which will hold them securely.  You can alternatively use caulk, but don't use caulk for the turnouts (again as someone else mentioned).

I think that a more important question that you need to answer is if this is your first attempt at layout building.  Since you asked your question because you "want to get it right the first time", I'm assuming that you haven't really gone through the process before (but I could be wrong!).  If this is really the case, then it is likely that there will be numerous glitches along the way regarding alignments, curves that aren't as smooth as they should be and require re-laying, things that don't exactly fit as planned, and other annoying glitches.  This being the case, I believe that the track nail method allows easier and less frustrating modification.

I'm sure other opinions will soon follow...... 

[tomikawaTT]

One more vote for grey latex caulk.  I use track nails to position the flex laterally while the caulk is curing under the weight of everything from spare cordless tool batteries to 2-liter bottles of Pepsi.  The nails can be removed once the caulk is secure, but I'm too lazy to bother.  (They are pushed - driven is hardly an appropriate verb - into styrofoam, so sound transmission isn't an issue.)

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Don Gibson]

On thing not touched on is the fact nailing will transfer noise to the ply-wood.  Nailing to homasote was ok as it did not touch the wood bench. But thru cork you will hit the sub-roadbed and noise will be amplified like a drum.  The thinner the ply, the worse the noise.  Caulking the track to cork  will isolate the track better from the noise. 

A DOUBLE THICKNESS of cork solves that. The nails hold the track in place without penetrating the plywood. 'Double profile' 'HO' on 'O'gauge  Looks more prototyp also.

WHITE GLUE and other water soluable bonding agents dry hard, and will transmit noise, so I prefer a 'softer' cent such as 'Matte Medium' for Ballasting.

[pcarrell]

Also, with Liquid Nails, make sure you get it right the first time.  If you screw up and have to redo after it's dry, you'll end up destroying the track, the roadbed, and some of the surrounding scenery if you're not careful.  It's not nearly as forgiving as Latex Caulk.

[lvanhen]

I use a thin skim of Liquid Nails, and I let it dry a bit till it's just tacky enough to hold the track.  I also put only a dot about every 6" or so.  The ballast and glue do the rest.

Lee 

Just make sure that the Liquid Nails is plastic compatible!!  Liquid Nails makes about a dozen different types of adhesive - most are solvent based which will destroy plastic!!  It will say on the tube "safe for styrofoam etc".

[wm3798]

I use a thin skim of Liquid Nails, and I let it dry a bit till it's just tacky enough to hold the track.  I also put only a dot about every 6" or so.  The ballast and glue do the rest.

Lee 

[Bill54]

I have recently started laying track and have never done it before.  I listened to the pro's here and many advised using caulk or white glue and caulk. 

I went with the white glue and caulk method. 

I use the white glue to lay the cork to the subroadbed and use gray caulk for laying the track to the cork roadbed. 

I purchased a container of 500 push pins / map pins from Office Depot for $4.99 and used them to hold the cork in place until it dried.  They also work to hold the track to the cork roadbed.  I found this was extremely easy.

Bill 

[UpNorth]

On thing not touched on is the fact nailing will transfer noise to the ply-wood.  Nailing to homasote was ok as it did not touch the wood bench. But thru cork you will hit the sub-roadbed and noise will be amplified like a drum.  The thinner the ply, the worse the noise.  Caulking the track to cork  will isolate the track better from the noise. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

When I was using cork and flextrack I would glue and nail both the cork and the track. Now that I'm using EZ-Track over white foam on plywood I just glue the track down.

[jamnest]

I use a hybrid method.  I glue my flex track to cork roadbed with latex caulk; but nail the turnouts down.  I also don't solder turnouts and just use rail joiners, but have a jumper wire on each section of track leading to the turnout.  I do this to save the turnout in the event that I decide later to rearrange the track.  I also solder two 3' sections of flex track with a jumper between the sections.  I just use rail joiners between the 6' sections to provide for some expansion and contraction of the track.  My layout is in a clean, dry basement with good HVAC, but I feel I still need to allow for some "float" in the track.

[cacole]

I used both cork and Woodland Scenics foam roadbed on my HO scale home layout, fastening both the roadbed and code 83 track with gray latex caulk, and I haven't had any problems with it.  I used Peco flex track, which doesn't even have nail holes in the crossties, so there are no unsightly open holes to need filling in.

[lvanhen]

This has the potential of becoming a "which brand is best" topic, but here's my anyway.  If you have wood roadbed, and if you may want to reposition the track later, nailing is the better way.  If you are "set" in your track plan or are using foam roadbed, then caulk.  This promises to run a couple of pages!!

[sparkyjay31]

I just finished my layout and had no problem with white glueing the cork to the foam, and laying all the track ( mostly flex code 100 HO Atlas track ) with the nails.  The nails hold the track down just fine.  Now I will admit that once I have everything ballasted that the track will be "firmer".  But the nails have worked so far, and I can run my steam fleet no problem.

[loathar]

Nails can only be used if your table top is wood. They won't hold in foam if your using that.
If you decide on the glue method, I would recommend NOT gluing your turnouts down.

[SilverSpike]

Cast my vote for the 30 year interior/exterior gray latex caulk. Makes quick work of track laying. And later on you can pull it up with a metal spatula quite easily for making adjustments or repairs.

I have put down as much as 60' of track in a 4 hour session with the latex caulk method. I've even run trains on it as soon as 15 minutes after the track was set with the caulk.

Regards,

Ryan

[pcarrell]

I've tried it all.......Latex Caulk is hands down the way to go for me.

[Bapou]

Nailing is the more popular method I beleive, but I don't see anything wrong with useing both methods.

[SWA737]

Starting my layout in HO code 83 and wanted to know if I should nail or glue the track on the cork roadbed. It will be a large layout when it is done (30X28) walk around so I want to get it right the first time. Thanks for all input.

Rob