I was wondering if anyone else out there in trainland has tried this. I have. Instead of spiking rail to ties, have you tried glueing the rails to the ties. I model in O so it’s a bit easier for me to do as the rails are bigger. I use Marine Goop, which is waterproof and strong as nails. “A dab’yll do ya” to parrot an old ad. Makes laying track quick work. And, if you cut your own wood ties like I do, you don’t have to use the soft basswood.
Gluing track down with Liquid Nails or other adhesives is becoming popular, especially among folks who use foam scenery (track nails don’t stay put.) I haven’t tried it myself but may make use of it if I ever use Orr girder rail for in-street track–it seems more stable than spiking track into place onto the roadbed.
Thx Jetrock,
\Anyone out there try this technique? The reason I ask is because I’d like to try it but am wondering about the sound-deadening issue. Is styrofoam good for deadening sound, or would the liquid nails add a sufficient insulating layer between track and styrofoam?
As Ray has mentioned on several post over on the “Layout and Layout Building” forum, the key to reduced sound with plywood is laminating a thin sheet of plywood on the bottom, 3/16 or 1/4 inch Luan is perfect. 1/4 inch OSB or MDF would undoubtably be just as good. You want at least 2" of extruded foam, preferably 4" especially with O scale.
you could use PCB painted and solder the rails on
Forgot to say i have never tried this
Years ago I used Walthers Goo to fasten code 100 brass rails to the ties. This worked very well. When I had to dismantle the layout I used pliers to pull up the rail and over half the ties came up with it. I imagine it would work with nickel silver also.
Enjoy
Paul
Thx for your replies. Ironrooster, interesting. What is neat is that GOO will hold the rail in place securely, yet, it pulls up (with some scrapping and effort).
I should have explained more. I’m NOT using plywood underneath. This is a narrow (2-3 ft) shelf layout, using steel brackets from Home Depot.
I’m using the HUMONGOUS Marine styrofoam that comes in 2’ X 2’ X 12’ chunks (I get it free from a styrofoam factory reject).
Thusly, the styrofoam is layed right on to the brackets so no plywood is involved. Planning to carve the styrofoam roadbed to shape then lay tracks right on the styrofoam (which will be painted and scenicked directly.
I already tried this technique with a HO layout I built at work. You can see my work layout on my web site (which may crash if too many people are on it so you might have to wait an hour or 2). I believe it’s on page 1.
http://davidvergun.tripod.com/
Haven’t tried it with O scale, however, so unsure if noise will increase.
Do NOT use Liquid Nails. Much much better is to use plain old ordinary CAULK.
It’s quick, easy and cheap. By far the best way to lay track.
I was always under the impression that if you heated goo with a soldering iron it would soften and you could unglue something or is that another glue I am thinking of?