What does everyone use to hold Atlas HO track down on cork roadbed?
Track nails until the ballast is laid and the glue dry; then I pull out the nails.
I use foam rather than cork but I don’t think that makes a difference. I’ve used both white and yellow carpenter’s glue to hold track down until I ballast. Usually that is enough but occasionally, I’ll put a nail or two in the track to hold it until ballasting if the glue won’t hold it in place initially.
I just use white glue. I’m in N scale, but that doesn’t matter. Track is track after all![(-D]
On my former HO layout though, I didn’t use anything. I just let the ballast and the ballast glue (which was water and matte medium) hold it in place.
On hidden sections of track I use small nails; on visible track I use adhesive latex caulk.
I don’t use caulk everywhere because glued-down track is much noisier than nailed track. Since I’ll have ballast on the visible parts of the layout anyway, it makes no difference (gluing down the ballast effectively glues the track down, and the noise increases). But in tunnels where I won’t ballast, the nails minimize the rumbling.
I’m in the proccess of laying my flextrack and I’m loving caulk. I put a very thin bead down then spread it think with a putty knife. It holds the flex track in place, particularly on curves, but still allows you to tweak the rails. For the cork I just use carpenters glue.
Is it the best way? I don’t give a rusty boxcar if it is! I’ve spend the last five years reading and worrying how to do things the right or best way. Well, there are more opinions than fallen flags and I want to build my layout and run trains. If I need to rip it all up in five years - well, that will keep me inthe hobby.
I’m with “Kimble,”
I use latex adhesive caulk whenever I install flextrack, visible or hidden. Besides the speed and ease of use, it allows me to lay smoother curves and straighter straights, because there are no nails or spikes. They always seem to push track out of line. I avoid putting caulk under switch rods (what many model railroaders call “throw bars”), but as long as I put down a small bead and spread it out thin, I can apply it everywhere else. It only oozes up between ties if I use too much.
Good luck,
andy