More on gluing turnouts

[Blind Bruce]

While perusing the replies  to my last post, (holding down turnouts till I can ballast)

 I had another brain flash. They occur so rarely anymore, I decided to ask all of you.

Could I temporarily fasten the turnouts with a dab or three of hot glue? I have Ho Atlas flex track over cork over foam.

BB

[zxb1]

I don't think glueing is a good idea ! I've never glued a turnout before, If you should ever have to pull it up. Would'nt that damage your ties ? Try using the smallest nail you can find or a spike just one.

[Eriediamond]

I've never glued, nailed, or secured a turnout. I've always been under the impression they should be able to "float". I've always just secured them by the rail joiners. I've never had any problems from doing it this way. However, I've known those that did spike or nail them in place and they didn't have problems either.

[ShadowNix]

Latex caulk (or acrylic) works very well.  Thin layer...bam, sticks, but you can pull up easily (and clean easily).

Brian

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I don't use any kind of adhesive on my turnouts. I put them in place and solder the rail joiners in place for best electrical contact.

[SOU Fan]

Top Secret information  below

  I glue my turnouts and track down.  I glue my track down with plastic glue made for model cars.  I just pulled up some track and it did not want to come up.....but it finally did with a couple ruined ties.

-dekruif

[claycts]

I just changed out  2 turnouts and had no problem. What I did was Latex CLEAR caulk up to the turnouts and then used HO spikes in the nails holes (Atlas turnout) and "N:" scale spikes in the holes on the side of the rails in the Walthers. The ballast deal that I am using is OFF the wall at best.

Using wax paper under the turnout, putting down the ballast the normal way then slid out the wax paper. A little touch up and it looks fine. I have a general forman on my railroad and his name is Murphy. I did (2) turnouts the old way and you know those where the two that went bad first.

I would not glue down the turnout but would stake it softley so it floats but does not move. DO NOT drive the spikes all they way it will cahnge the gauge of the turnout.

[Dave-the-Train]

NOT hot glue!

Anything hot (including solder/soldering if you're not careful) can distort the ties.  That's bad enough in plain track where you can cut out the ties and shorten the length - or re-space the remaining ties if it's a siding or poor track - but in a switch it's a lot of money down the drain.  You can always use the damaged bits as an MoW car load... except that every time you see it it will remind you of the error of your ways... then again...

I drill pilot holes in the tie and baseboard before spiking down gently.  The hole in the tie is almost a clearance hole so that the spike barely grips inside the hole and the head does most of the work of holding down (the shank maintains position).

Personally I don't want my switches to float... both because I want them to stay in place under the trains and I don't want them shifting on the drive... but four spikes (one at each end and one half way along the blades) put in carefully plus the fixed ballast hold them adequately.  We are not dealing with full sized train weights/loads and the wheels are supposed to roll through them not bash them about.

[cacole]

I use a thin layer of latex caulk, but not under the area of the point rails.  I never, ever solder the rail joiners at a turnout.  A turnout is the only piece of trackwork with moving parts, and is, therefore, the first thing that will fail and need to be replaced.

 

[modelmaker51]

If you use a low-temp glue gun and only "tack" it (small spot) at the corners, you should'nt have any trouble. Just secure the turnout  with some weight or pins until the glue hardens. You would only need like an 1/8" blob against the end of a tie.

I do everything you're probably not suposed to do with a turnout! I glue and solder them in place, (except the throwbar/point area). I also cut the webbing (between the ties) at the heel of the points up to the frog, to curve (or straighten) them for a custom fit. The trackwork flows more "naturally", some visitors think they were handlaid at first glance. I've been doing it this way for 25+ years. I've only had to remove 2 turnouts (of 150+) in all that time. 

I simply cut all the rail joints to the turnout with a cutoff disk, wet the ballast to soften it, then use a long sharp knife (I use a filletting knife) to separate the ties from the roadbed and remove the turnout. Using a dental tool with a hook on the end, remove the cut rail joiners with a bit of heat from the soldering iron. To reinstall the turnout an extra tie has to be removed so that a fresh railjoiner can be slid on all the way, re-apply the glue, then drop it in place, slide the joiners over, solder them and then comes the hardest part, re-blending and weathering the ballast to make it look like it's never been touched.

Modelers tip: If ones does melt part of a tie, just cut off the offending part and replace with a piece from a fresh tie, Glue in in with some superglue. Once painted and ballasted you'll never notice it again.

 

[Don Gibson]

If you glue under a turnout and it impedes the throw bar or movingpoints in any way, what then?

You CAN glue them down - but WHY?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

If you glue under a turnout and it impedes the throw bar or movingpoints in any way, what then?

You CAN glue them down - but WHY?

That's my question too. Why would you want to glue it down?

After I put one in place and solder the rail joiners, it's not going anywhere and changing it is an easy operation. I just know some nay-sayer is going to pop in and say that it isn't, but I find it easier to remove the soldered joiners than destroy the ballast and sub-roadbed to get a glue turnout up.

[jbinkley60]

I have used yellow glue for all turnouts and they come up very easily with a putty knife.  I just pulled up a Walthers double-slip switch yesterday to fix a probem with the throw bar.  I glue mine because I have found that DCC 6 axle locomotives are very sensitive to vertical motion when they go through turnouts.  They will cut out if the turnout is not solidly braced.

 

 

[claycts]

If you glue under a turnout and it impedes the throw bar or movingpoints in any way, what then?

You CAN glue them down - but WHY?

That's my question too. Why would you want to glue it down?

After I put one in place and solder the rail joiners, it's not going anywhere and changing it is an easy operation. I just know some nay-sayer is going to pop in and say that it isn't, but I find it easier to remove the soldered joiners than destroy the ballast and sub-roadbed to get a glue turnout up.

What type of soldering unit are you using? THe unsoldering of a rail joiner with out a resistance system takes a good soldering ability. I like your idea better than mine and since I have well over 100 turnouts that still need to be done. I do have the resistance system and would use it in a heart beat insted of the FLOAT or spike game I am using..

[Seamonster]

No, no, no on the hot glue.  I tried it on some track.  I got white blobs sticking up geside the ties that ballast wouldn't cover and I damaged the track and roadbed when I removed the track later.  The strings from the tip of the glue gun went all over the place too.  Too messy.  Too damaging.  Never again.

 

[rghammill]

I use Aleene's Tacky glue and had no problem pulling them up from either cork or Woodland Scenics foam roadbed.

I hadn't thought about not gluing the turnouts while I was gluing down the rest of the track. I'll have to consider that. However, I will be using CVT curvable turnout kits that have a flexible plastic tie strip that you use. I'm not sure if it would be better to glue it to keep it in the radius I need.

Randy

[jeffrey-wimberly]

If you glue under a turnout and it impedes the throw bar or movingpoints in any way, what then?

You CAN glue them down - but WHY?

That's my question too. Why would you want to glue it down?

After I put one in place and solder the rail joiners, it's not going anywhere and changing it is an easy operation. I just know some nay-sayer is going to pop in and say that it isn't, but I find it easier to remove the soldered joiners than destroy the ballast and sub-roadbed to get a glue turnout up.

What type of soldering unit are you using? THe unsoldering of a rail joiner with out a resistance system takes a good soldering ability. I like your idea better than mine and since I have well over 100 turnouts that still need to be done. I do have the resistance system and would use it in a heart beat insted of the FLOAT or spike game I am using..

I just lay wet cotton balls to each side of the joint in question then then heat the joint until it loosens. In ten years I've lost 3 ties.

[tomikawaTT]

When I was experimenting with commercial turnouts I anchored them with latex caulk, just leaving the headblock ties and the space under the throwbar clear.  Taking them up was a matter of getting a drywall knife between the ties and the roadbed.  Cleaning them up (they weren't malfunctioning, just unsuitable) was a matter of a few minutes of rubbing with my thumbs.

My hand-laid turnouts fly in the face of everything written above.  The stock rails are full-length 36 inch (or 1 meter) rails, the ties are caulked down (still no caulk under the throwbar, though) and the rails are spiked through the ties to the roadbed.  The point pivots (vertical nails) go through the roadbed and into the subgrade in drilled holes.  If one malfunctions, I will have a major tearout and rebuild on my hands.

OTOH, the turnouts on my 'end of the railroad' module were built the same way - in 1980.  I've had to re-do the linkages under the subgrade a couple of times, but the turnouts themselves are still going strong and show no sign of imminent or future failure.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on well-anchored hand-laid specialwork)