What is the best glue/adhesives to use to lay flex track on cork road? I don’t want to use nails, don’t think they will hold the track in place good.
Most on this forum will agree using a thin layer of latex caulk. I have used it and also used plain old white glue. Once the track work is established and thoroughly tested then the ballast will hold everything together.
Pete
I personally use latex caulk, spread thin. Track (Atlas flex) is pre-bent to fit the location, laid on freshly-spread caulk, tacked with temporary track nails, weighted and allowed to set. Weights I have used:
- Telephone books.
- bottled soda (bottles stood on pieces of 2x4).
- Stacked angle iron.
- 18" length of 60# rail.
I will admit that the rail was something of an overkill.
Track laid in this fashion has been in use for over 5 years in a non-climate-controlled Southern Nevada garage. No problems to date.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Actually, I used nails to hold track down on a layout that lasted 15 years without a problem. They were track nails and were long enough to go into the plywood under the cork. I drilled holes slight smaller than the nail for a press fit.
Enjoy
Paul
While a lot of people use caulk, I don’t know why nails wouldn’t hold the track firmly in place as well.
Rich
I agree that, provided you have something solid (not extruded foam boards) under your roadbed, nails should work just fine.
That said, however, I’ll still recommend adhesive caulk (in gray). I use it both under the roadbed and between the roadbed and the track. Lay a thin bead, and smear it with one of those fake credit cards you get in the mail.
Nails (spikes) will work, but caulk is a lot faster. Just use the cheapest latex caulk you can find, and get clear so you can see any center lines or such under the thin bead.
Caulk may be faster, but I prefer nails because nails are easier to remove and replace if I need to correct my track laying errors.
Rich
I use DAP clear latex caulk spread very thin. It is virtually invisible, goes down fast, holds tight, and can be removed with a putty knife.
The reason some of us don’t like to leave nails in place if they were initially used for securing the track while our caulk set is because of noise transmission. We are all different about our likes and dislikes, including our favourite roadbed material, how much noise we can tolerate when the trains’ wheels are passing over the rails and joints, etc… Those of us who would prefer to only hear the decoder w/sound will necessarily want to limit the interference, as we see it, of unwanted other noises, including the noise of the wheels on the rails. With hardened ballast, it can be that much noisier, and nails contribute to this by providing a medium directly from the ballast and ties down into the roadbed material. So, we caulk to isolate the ties from the roadbed, and we often use matte medium for the ballast fixing, which does dampen the sound a wee bit…some swear it works wonders, while others raise an eybrow and politely decline to contest the point.
Crandell
No arguement about about the effectiveness of caulk, but I use track spikes and they’re way faster than caulk, as I can run trains immediately. One of the other advantages of nails is that they allow easy repositioning of track, either as you’re laying it or days or months later - simply pull the spikes, re-align the track, and re-spike. If you don’t like their appearance, they can be removed after ballasting, as the white glue or matte medium mixture will hold the track in place just fine.
Wayne
I tried nails and caulk.There seems to be a lot of people loving caulk nowadays and for a lot of good reason. However, if you think you will make many changes during the track laying process nails can be a nice alternative (and you can decide to caulk later on).
I second Wayne about the evolutive nature of a layout. Our club layout being a “living” thing, we quicly got tired of cleaning caulked track when reworking some parts (on the first incarnation). On the rebuilt layout, everything is nailed down. As Doctorwayne pointed out, easier to modify and once ballasted, you can remove the nails. What I like is that you can test the track on spot with your rolling stock and a power pack.
Matt