Layouts and layout building

Just a question, I am looking at using atlas code 83 brown tie flex or the cement tie flex and wondering what is the best way to spike it as i wish to avoid using track nails.  I have an option to paint the spikes if using the cement ties-I am wondering if you have used either the best method

Must you spike or nail at all?  Many of us use the cheapest acrylic latex caulk purchasable locally, smear it thinly over the roadbed, and then press the track elements into place.  If you have trouble maintaining alignment, one or two track nails driven into the mid-tie holes works well until the caulk dries, and then we remove the nails.

Just a thought.

-Crandell

I agree with Crandell. Latex caulk is the best way to put down flextrack. Spikes or nails actually make it harder to lay really straight tangents and smooth curves.

Just make sure to spread the caulk out very thin. If you see it oozing up between the ties, that's way too much.

So long,

Andy 

Plus the Atlas flextrack only has holes in the ties for track nails. You'd have to drill holes for spikes along the rails - or use Walthers / Shinohara flex track which has holes I think every 7 ties or so, two on each side of each rail for using track spikes to fasten it down (the goal being to make it look like handlaid track.)

To expand on the subject of tracklaying with grey latex caulk:

• Mark your track location on your roadbed.  Marking a line for the outer ends of the ties on a curve will make locating the track easier.
• Carefully pre-bend your flex track to the desired curvature, so it will fit your geometry without any fastenings at all.
• Put a small bevel in the top inside corner of each railhead, both ends of every track section.
• Spread the caulk thin and make sure you can see your track locating lines.
• Hold the track in place by driving fasteners between the ties, gripping the base of the rail on both sides.
• Load the track with canned goods, cordless tool batteries or similar weights until the caulk sets up.
• Once the caulk has set, remove the temporary fasteners.  You are now ready to ballast the track.

I have been using these methods for laying track, including Atlas concrete-tie Code 83, for several years now, and am very pleased with the results.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with Atlas flex and handlaid specialwork)

 When glueing track down what I have found that works well are either push pins od woodlandscenics foam nails. I have a bunch left over and I make where the trak is going to be and I prefer yellow carpenters glue, although latex calk works very well. once you've spead the calk or glue out with a 1" putty knife nice and even and as thins as possible just place the track on top of it and press and then hold it in place with either the push pins or the foam nails. Go back the next day and remove them.