A couple months ago I removed all my Caboose ground throws from my yard because I wanted to go with over-center springs on my turnouts.
The springs are working out OK, but they’re not as trouble-free as I would like. So I’m thinking of going back to the ground throws.
Thing is, my yard is laid on pink foam (with cork roadbed). I held the throws in place using small nails through the base, but the foam and cork combination did not hold them securely. I never tried using an adhesive.
For those who use the ground throws with foam, how did you adhere the base of the throws to the foam or cork? Caulk, superglue, or…?
I had this leftover 8’ strip of plastic molding that cost $1.00 at Home Depot. I just cut little bits off, hit them with the gray primer, caulked them to the foam and caulked the Caboose ground throw to the plastic. A little weather powder dirties them up nicely to look like cement.
Shims undneath made from scrap corkboard sheets, then I raided the sewing drawer for straight pins. Use the small “brad style” head ones, not the brightly colored plastic ball ones, as they fit perfectly and are all but invisible when painted. No adhesive needed.
Held with zero issues for over 5 years, and only came out when I purposely pulled them out to dismantle the layout for a remodel.
Trying to securely attach them to foam didn’t work.
I ended up taking small strips of Luan Plywood; 5mm thick, that fit under the throw rod and extended out to hold the switch machines.
These “platforms” are attached to the track and not the roadbed or base. This ensures a solid connection between the turnout and the switch machine of choice.
You can model these platforms as cement for the modern age or ballast over them for other eras.
I’ve also seen a block of 1/4" plywood cut, similar to the plastic strip above, attached to the foam with a compatable latex caulk, small screws or nails used to hold the throw.
I used Fast Tracks turnouts w/live frogs on my last layout and I switched them using the Caboose Industries (CI) 220S ground throws for the electrical connection. They were affixed to a 1-1/2" long* inverted section of cork roadbed that mated with the beveled edge of the cork roadbed that the track sat upon. A 3/8" or 1/2" OD clearance hole was enough to pass the 3-contact array through for wiring the ground throw from underneath.
*[Edit - After musing on it some more, Mark, I believe I used a 1/2 width of cork roadbed so that the flat side pointed away from the track and the bevel side mated with the bevel of the track roadbed. You can then choose how long you need the inverted cork section to be for supporting the ground throw.]
IIRC, the cork was affixed to the extruded foam, as well as to the beveled surface of the track roadbed with DAP Alex Plus Latex Caulk. The CI 220S ground throw was affixed to the 1-1/2" long inverted cork with the same but I also drove track nails into the cork using the two holes in the base of the ground throw.
I never had an issue with those ground throws moving or shiftng at all with the Alex Plus and track nail combination. And they felt solid everytime I engaged or disengaged them. Using the inverted cork for mounting the ground throws also meant there was no shimming required, as it was the exact same height as the track roadbed next to it.
Thanks everyone. I used the inverted cork mounting pad method, and attached the ground throws with 1/2" small nails through the mounting holes in the base.
Maybe the nails weren’t long enough - the throws kept coming loose and I had to constantly re-seat them. Maybe I’ll try the caulk in combination with the nails on a few and see how that works.
I never thought about screws. I just assumed the threads in a size small enough to use wouldn’t grip either the foam OR the cork well enough to be worth considering. Have you used screws for that? I’ll give them a shot.
You could oversize the holes in the ground throw somewhat to use larger screws. I would opt for a wood screw since it has coarser threads and will bite into the cork better.
Timely topic as I’m coming up on doing the same in my yard. I have a box of coarse drywall screws but they are way too big for this work. If I could find scaled-down small versions of them they might grip the foam really well.
I couldn’t find any screws small enough locally (welcome to the boonies!) so yesterday I picked up a box of brown 1" panel nails. I drilled out the holes in the base of the ground throws to 5/64" for the nails to fit, added a dot of caulk to the base and put a couple of ground throws back in place. The panel nails are ring shank nails, so they grip very well. Even without the caulk having dried, the ground throws seemed secure.
We’ll see how they hold up over the next few weeks. If they’re good, I’ll do the rest of the yard the same way.
You know I never thought of basewood even though i have lots around. One thing I like about cork is if you miss the mark slightly the cork seems to reseal a bit to allowfine adjustments.
