Hi all
I want to move one of my sidings that has the the roadbed and track glued down with white glue, no balast yet. If I soak it with water for awhile , will it lift up or is there a better way. I would like to try and save the track and roadbed if possible.
Thanks for the help.
Ken
Ken,
If only white glue, that will work. A less messy way to do it might be to lay wetted paper towels on the track you want to removed, give it an hour or so and it should come up. A flat bladed instrument like a putty knife can help a lot here.
Thanks for the reply. I am sure I used white glue for all the track, and I think this part of the roadbed is also white glue, if not it is DAP caulking, which might get interesting.
Everything looked good on paper, oh well the best layed plans … 
Ken:
I’ve had good luck with 70% isopropyl alcohol. It softens the white glue quickly and allows an easy lifting of the track. My homasote roadbed is another story.
Joe
LION is SMART. Him done that on previous layouts, new layout of him has no road bed or glue. everything mooves easy, and ballast is not glued, but just held in place by gravity!
ROAR
If it’s caulk, not glue, just be gentle with a flexible drywall knife and it should come right up. I had to raise and re-lay some track where inadequate rail expansion gaps caused rail heaves, and it didn’t give me any particular problem.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
If you used white glue and no ballast, it shouldn’t take much to lift the track. I’d almost think that you could simply lift one end a bit, then slide a scraper/putty knife under and pop it up. After all, white glue is in a plastic container and it doesn’t stick all that well to that. However, I’d err on the side of caution and pre-soak it with a generous application of wet water.
I’m not so sure about the roadbed, though, as I doubt that the water will penetrate it that well, although it may seep in from the sides.
I recently relocated an already-ballasted siding and turnout. The track and turnout were nailed down, while the ballast had been done with white glue. The turnout and track were laid directly atop plywood, although the track leading to them was mostly on cork, tapered down to the level of the plywood with sandpaper.
Here’s the original set-up:
After pulling out the track nails and cutting the rails, I soaked the area with wet water, and let it sit for a half hour or so. It was easy to lift the track:
I used a scraper to clean-up the area, then re-aligned the lead track:
Next, the new track and turnout was nailed in place, and the rail joints soldered:
To finish the job, new ballast (mostly cinders and dirt, with a generous helping of weeds) was added:
Here’s the re-done area, which is still under construction:
thanks everyone for the info, I’ll give it a try this week.
Great phot sequence, Wayne.
When you say “mostly cinders and dirt”, are you using Woodland Scenics Cinder Ballast and Woodland Scenics Dirt Ballast?
What is that lighter colored ballast?
Rich
The re-worked industrial siding is ballasted with WS Cinders, along with WS brown ballast, some WS Turf, and various shades and sizes of WS foliage…might even be some real dirt in there.
The light coloured ballast on the mainline and passing siding is WS Fine Light Grey ballast, which is used on all mainline track on what is now the lower level of the layout.
The rest of the main level of the layout uses WS Fine Grey ballast, with the change to the lighter colour occurring at Cayuga Junction, where the line shown above diverges from the parent line.
In the photo below, the line at right, with the light-coloured ballast, is heading downhill, and belongs to the subsidiary road, while the main level, at the bottom of the frame, and the line to the upper level, at left, uses WS Fine Grey ballast.
(Photo courtesy of Secord Air Services)
Wayne