Securing track to cork roadbed


PNKFLOYD

PNKFLOYD

Mikey
I have most of the cork secured with caulk onto a foam base and am locating turnouts on the roadbed. I will use track nails to hold the track in position.

What did you use to secure your track and turnouts to your roadbed and what do wish you had used?

Serious suggestions so far are: caulk, wood glue and double sided tape. Any other suggestions, other than pig snot?
 
Mikey: On the CM&NR I used track nails to secure the track and at the joiners I drilled a second nail hole. The ballast glue is also holding the track in place.

Greg
 
I'm not much help because I use plywood base. But for what it is worth, I secured cork roadbed with Elmer's White Glue and used track nails to secure the track. They have a slight bite into the plywood. Greg is correct that the ballast glue also helps, but I have not removed any nails since I cannot see them after painting the ties.
 
Same as above for the most part. Regular white glue. It made taking it up a breeze, just mist it with warm water, and peel up with a putty knife.
 
Thank you for your comments!
Once the track is nailed in place, the ballast will become solid when the diluted glue drys.
I did not think about taking up track again if I want to add sidings or branch lines.
 
PNKFLOYD said:
Serious suggestions so far are: caulk, wood glue and double sided tape.
Click to expand...
I'm in the Matte Medium camp. Similar to Elmer's white glue but does not turn brittle over time (> 10 years). I generally do not glue turnouts and let them float between the three adjacent pieces of track.
 
I'e used two things: Elmers white Glue for my static displays and Hard as Nail Project Caulk for my actual layouts. I run a line of caulk down the centre of the cork roadbed, spread it out so it is evenly applied, lay the track and weight it down for an hour or so. I also glue down my turnouts; however, can see logic in NOT gluing them down as well.
 
Many excellent points!
Now, I am going to have to THINK about what I am going to do..... and that hurts my brain.
 
I always secured the track in place using track pins( as few as possible) lightly pinned into the cork,to hold the track in place while my carpenters glue/ water/alcohol mixture that held the ballast in place dried. Once dried I removed the pins.
 
I have used Grey latex caulking to fasten the roadbed to foam, and track to roadbed. I pinned the flex track every 6 inches on curves to hold it in place. A bead down the center, spread out.

Removed the foam pins when done. Seems to hold securely.

237E085C-A653-4B42-9217-F438BACA1629.jpeg
 
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