Glueing tracks vs nailing tracks?

A co-worker who is heavily into N, glues his track and cork ballast to the plywood of his layout. I (who is getting back into model trains) thought that nailing the track was the preferred method.

My co-worker states that he doesn't worry about breaking the track when glueing (as with nails) and that he can just pull teh track and ballast up (with a blade) with no damage to either.

ANy thoughts on this?

Rather B. Beachen snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

Reply to
Mr. Rather B. Beachen
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Nails were never intended to hold track perm. just until you ballast it down with glue.... the ballast and glue mix is what really holds the track

Reply to
lars

always used the combination of tacks and glue. seemed to work well.

Reply to
Slingblade

Yes, I use small brads pushed in with needle-nose as well, or I also bought several other tools for tacking track that works real well. Get a nail pin and a small nail pull, available and any hardware store. You'll never bend/break a tie if you do it with these tools, and you can use the pull to remove the brads if you have to re-route something.

Cheers!

----------------------- »» Jan Kohl «« =

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Reply to
Jan Kohl

I use liquid nails glue for foam board...spreads easily and is water clean up... and doesn't attack any of the plastic ties too.

bought several other tools for tacking track

any hardware store. You'll never bend/break

the brads if you have to re-route something.

Reply to
B.R.Simmerman

I use GEL medium (not matte medium) to glue track. I also use pickle jars, plastic milk bottles, or whatever jars filled with water to hold the track in place until the gel medium sets. Another poster mentioned alignment problems later. I had one but the track lifted rather easily with a small hammer and putty knife, working slowly. Realignment of glued track only becomes a real problem after it has been ballasted IMO.

Mark

Reply to
Mark Z.

Rather,

If you have a layer of Homasote under your roadbed then dress pins can be used in place of nails. Cut them to size with a diagonal cutter and use the same holes that nails would normally use. Once the track is secured and ballasted you can remove the pins, or just leave them in place.

I was having a difficult time finding nails with a small enough diameter to work with N scale ties. My dealer suggested the dress pin method, and I've been very pleased with the results.

This method presupposes a layer of Homasote over a plywood base, but if you're just getting started that's not too difficult to accomplish. Along with making track mounting much easier you'll also gain a level of sound damping that cork roadbed glued to plywood can't provide.

Best regards from Milwaukee, WI U.S.A. Gregory Braun

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Reply to
Gregory Braun -- HO Slot Car Racing

You may want to test this out, but I have used something that you have not concidered. FUTURe floor wax. It is great for scenery as well as track and ballast. I build on blue or pink foam, contoured to the desired profile and use foam core as my roadbed. I align the track the way I want it and hold it in place with round headed pins. Then put the ballast where I want it and hand sprey the future on with an old windex bottle and spreyer. After it all dries I remove the pins and take a bright boy over the tops of the rail and you are ready to run.Windex will desolve the future if you need to make adjustments. Also clean out turnouts.

Dave Decker

"Mr. Rather B. Beachen" wrote:

Reply to
dsq

Dave Decker wrote: You may want to test this out, but I have used something that you have not concidered. FUTURe floor wax. =A0 It is great for scenery as well as track and ballast. I build on blue or pink foam, contoured to the desired profile and use foam core as my roadbed. I align the track the way I want it and hold it in place with round headed pins. Then put the ballast where I want it and hand sprey the future on with an old windex bottle and spreyer. =A0 After it all dries I remove the pins and take a bright boy over the tops of the rail and you are ready to run.Windex will desolve the future if you need to make adjustments. Also clean out turnouts.

--------------------------------------------------- Thanks for the tip, Dave! I think I'll give it a try. Might be a simple way to make ballasting a lot easier.

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Bill

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