How’s your experience using white glue to mount track to the layout? Does it hold up to operation? Seems there’s always a downward force at play, the weight of the trains, so separation seems unlikely, and removal is easy. Your thoughts or experience? Thank you, Rob.
It’s been doone, but white glue is water soluable, so when ballasting there’s always a chance of the ‘wet’ water used to soak the ballast to make the glue penetrate will loosen the track. Once the glue dries ont eh ballst it will all be held in place again - probably a non-issue on straights but curves, depending oon the type of track used, could present issues.
Latex caulk, properly applied (VERY thin spread out coat) has plenty of holding power, but also is easily removed, and while not totally impervious to water, holds up when wet a lot better than white glue.
–Randy
What type of layout are you using? I’ve used white glue to attach track to foam without issues. If you’re using wood as the layout, you could probably do better with wood glue.
I have been using regular white glue to attach the track to either plywood or foam for ages and I never had an issue, even when ballasting the track at a later stage, using diluted white glue again. However, there is a downside to using white glue - it dries rock-hard and has no sound-proofing effect whatsoever - more on the contrary!
I’ve done it in places in the past and have not had problems. I think the issue is the glue loosening a bit with water, then the track moving slightly if it is under some tension, like atlas flex track that wants to straighten or track like might want to rise a bit. Other than those areas, I don’t see a problem.
I don’t know if you’d call it “white gue” but I’ve used Aleene’s Tacky Glue and Weldbond to glue down all the track on my layout. Both are similar to plain white glues except they remain a little flexible after drying. They’re both non-toxic and easy to wipe off if you get any where you don’t want it.
Using it from a tube seems so much easier than trying to use caulk. It spreads very easily too.
I’ve had our layout in sub-zero weather to near one hundred degrees for over ten years and the track is still exactly where I glued it. I just used some pushpins to keep everything in place until it dried.
Jim
Central Valley recommends using white glue as one way to put down their plastic tie strips, the idea being that you spread the glue, then press the ties into it. Because the draught angle (to allow the formed plastic to be removed from the mould) leaves the bottom of the tie slightly wider than the top, enough of the glue spreads over that wider portion so that when the glue hardens, it “traps” the ties in place.
I was concerned that ballasting might weaken that hold, especially since I use generous amounts of “wet” water for pre-soaking the applied ballast.
I opted for contact cement to hold the tie strips in place and also to hold the rails to the ties.
Wayne
To illustrate Randy’s suggestion about using latex caulk, here’s a picture that shows how thin the layer of caulk should be. If it squeezes up between the ties, you’ve applied it too thickly.
- Fit and cut section of track to be installed.
- Run a bead of caulk (about 1/8 to 14" thick) down the center of the roadbed.
- Spread with a putty knife until you get the caulk to the desired thickness.
- Insert track into place and hold down by either setting weight or use pushpins. This will depend on what your subroadbed is. Pushpins work better with wood subroadbed, while weight will work better with foam.