My HO cork roadbed is almost complete and I need to know the pros and cons of caulking down the turnouts.
Also, what is a good way to fill in the gaps in the roadbed at the turnout?
Many thanks,
BB
You can glue down the turnouts but be careful that you don’t get caulking near the throwbar. The gaps can be filled by cutting or filing the rail clamps off of the tops of leftover crossties.
cacole, I meant the gaps in the cork roadbed where the diverging track meets the straight.
BB.
When I put down the cork for turnouts, I cut the cork for the diverging route with scissors as closely as I can, and then fill the gap when I ballast.
I just cut up more of the cork roadbed and glue it in with white or yellow wood glue(I use Titebond). I glue down all of my roadbed with Titebond, using ‘track nails’ to hold it in position while the glue dries. I then ‘sand’ the cork with a ‘sureform’ to take off the ragged ‘edge’ and ‘round’ it. So far I have used ‘track nails’ to fasten the track, but I am tempted to try adhesive. Track laying is one of those things that takes time, and there is a lot of cut/fit to the process. I can always adjust track that is nailed down!
If you are going to use glue or nails, make sure you cut a shallow ‘groove’ under the throwbar area so it does not ‘bind’ on the cork roadbed.
Jim Bernier
BEST ADVICE I’ve seen is to ‘float’ pre-fab turnout’s, and use stripwoodwood ties to fill between pieces of flextrack.
Get the stripwood to match the thickness of your plastic ties (real tie’s are 4" x4" thick - not copied by our prefab track maker’s).
‘Floating’ turnout’s allows mechanism’s to operate unhindered, plus easy replacement.
I allow the the rail joiner’s to transfer power and keep the alignment.
I do recommend powering frog’s via switch machine point’s - even Caboose industries SPDT ground throw - to INSURE getting power to where it’s needed - such as a single ended yard ladder.
I put a small dab of caulk around the frog area of my turnouts, just to more or less ‘tack’ them in place - with the caulk they are easy to peel up without damage. And the little bit of caulk keeps an errant bump from messing up the track alignment when fitting in the next piece of track.
–Randy
I spike the ends of the flex track leading up to and flowing out of the turnouts, but leave the turnout free to “float”. I have found that they will work better and have less throw problems and/or derailments with them free then glued down.
regards
Randy
[#ditto]
Darrell, repeatingly quiet…for now
I don’t glue down my switches, just in case I need to replace one. I’ve found that if the switch is laid on completely flat roadbed, it won’t rise up on you, and what little ballast glue I’ve got will hold it in place.
They make cork pads for switches now,saves time cutting and fitting cork,Big problem is they are spendy around six bucks a set[^][8D]
JIM