Trackbed, underlay and ballast etc.

One idea that came to me after posting last night is to glue the paper templates onto a piece of cork underlay cut to a suitable size and temporarily tacked down onto a solid base. The cork plus ballasted track could then be lifted off this base and placed on the layout when complete.

The only potential problem I can see with this idea would be at the stage of transferring the track/underlay from its temporary base to permanent installation on the layout. It could be a delicate business trying to keep the whole thing flat during the transfer itself - one false move and hours of work could be ruined!

Has anyone tried this idea or anything similar?

Matt

Matt Ots said the following on 25/02/2006 10:08:

You're right in that transferring a flat panel is a delicate business, but not really a problem so long as you take bit-sized chunks. I'm not sure you need to take the cork with it either. When using this method, I tape the edges of the template to a piece of MDF, build on that, then transfer that onto the underlay on the layout. The tricky bit comes in because I solder dropper wires onto the underside of the rails during build, so I have to feed them through the underlay/board all at the same time. My preferred option now is to assemble all the trackwork in situ, whilst preparing all the parts on another separate template, so for instance the complete crossing assembly (frog) is made off-site, then fitted to the actual turnout in situ. The photos on my website of Tan-y-Craig show this in practise.

I can't remember which book Iain Rice suggests it in offhand, but the idea of gluing all the timbers down, then ballasting, then laying the rails, I just didn't get on with at all!

Paul Boyd said the following on 25/02/2006 10:36:

I know it's not good practise to reply to your own posts, but I thought the above needed to be clarified. I didn't mean that the MDF is transferred to the layout - the paper template plus completed track is lifted off the MDF and transferred to the layout.

Matt,

Like Paul, I've stuck my template down onto a building board with Selotape and tacked my plywood sleepers onto the template then built the track formation. When it's done, I lift track and template off the building board and onto the baseboard. The sleepers tack glued to the template hold everything together. You need to handle it with some care since it will be a bit flexible - especially if it is a large formation you are building - but I wouldn't worry too much about keeping it absolutely flat while transferring - just so long as you don't bend anything. I'm building a throat formation in 7mm scale at the moment and it will be approximately 48" x 20" in size and I reckon that will carry over to its baseboard quite happily if I take a bit of care.

In earlier days of tracklaying, I used to try and peal the template off the sleepers, but that could cause a few problems in disturbing elements in the formation. When I realised that I would be covering the template with ballast in any case, I now leave it glued to the sleepers, and in the case of this present layout, it will become the paper cover over a 6mm foam underlay much in the manner described by Iain Rice in his 4mm track book.

Jim.

On 25/02/2006 11:21, Jim Guthrie said,

I certainly wouldn't want to carry something that size in 4mm scale!

Paul,

It's actually not all that difficult - pick it up gently by one edge and carry it vertically, then drop it down gently on the baseboard. There are few bending stresses than if you tried to carry it flat. It's a bit like carryng a bit of pasted wallpaper to the wall :-)

Or, if your building board is not too heavy, carry it on the building board to the baseboard, then slide it off gently onto the baseboard.

Jim.