I just received this item which is obviously base on John Allen’s award winning two stall engine house. Like the original, it has one pass through stall and one stub end stall. Like all Menard’s structures, it comes mounted on a base which I estimate is about 1/8" thick. I’m not sure what the base is made of but I don’t believe it is styrene. The interior floor represents square concrete tiles. I use Atlas code 83 flex track and turnouts for almost all my layout. I’m thinking 9 inch sectional track would be the best option for the engine house but I’m not sure what would be the best adhesive to use to hold the track in place. Any suggestions?
No reason you couldn’t just use any good plastic cement to glue the plastic ties to the plastic floor.
Technically the lines are expansion joints in the poured concrete, not tiles. A problem is usually an engine house with a concrete floor would have the rails embedded in the concrete, just leaving enough clearance for the wheel flanges. Some kits, like the Walthers 120’ two-stall enginehouse, have grooves in the floor to glue just the rails to. You could carve out two grooves yourself and lay the rails in there. Otherwise, maybe just remove the ties from the part of the track in the engine house, and glue the rails down that with say superglue. The ties at either end would help keep the track in alignment, though you may want to get a track gauge to be sure it’s good all the way through.
I’m not sure ordinary styrene solvents are going to work on this material, either the tube or liquid type. My understanding is these solvents dissolve the surface of styrene allowing the two surfaces to fuse together. I tried using styrene solvents on ABS a few years ago and the surfaces just don’t bond. I just checked with CoPilot and the answer I got confirmed what I had discovered on my own. I don’t know what kind of material the floor of the engine house is made of but I’m pretty sure it is not styrene. On top of that, the surface is painted and that always inhibits styrene solvents from bonding properly. I’m thinking a super glue might be the answer but I wonder if it will hold for the long term. I’m not too concerned with the through track because that will be attached at either end to the lead tracks which will be balasted and glued down but the stub track will only be connected at one end so the other end needs to be secure.
Well, you could try using Tacky glue. Honestly, since you are (I presume) using HO, it probably wouldn’t require much strength to hold it in place. And Tacky glue would make it easier to remove the track should you need to do so.
I have N scale. I had the same issue with a locomotive shop that had a concrete floor. I did not use a floor from the building, but made my own of styrene. I removed the ties from the rails, I had slots in the plastic, and used super glue (CA) to put the rails in. That was years ago and it worked.
Disclaimer: These rails are seldom used and usually just have locomotives parked on them. I don’t know if the glue would hold if the rails were on the mainline and got daily trains running on them.
Why not just use the same technique as for crossings: cut strips of styrene for the ‘floor’ and of wood for the ‘flangeways’ and gauge-side curbs, and just shim the result to railhead height of a suitable piece of track? Then just cut out the supplied building floor entirely and arrange a foundation that gives the necessary support and stiffness with the track at correct height…
Jumping in because I’ve reviewed a lot of Menards’ structures. The primary component of Menards structures is MDF, which can be tricky to deal with. I’d try Woke’s suggestion. I would not use adhesive.
Actually, that would be a lot better.
Back in my HO days, I used an engine house without the floor and built my own. I included an inspection pit under one track built of styrene sheet. I removed the ties from a section of track and affixed them to shoulders along the pit with super glue. I did the same with the fill pit for the coaling tower.
1 Like
I appreciate all the suggestions. The problem with doing any major surgery on the engine house floor is that it comes prebuilt and detaching the floor from the rest of the structure could be problematic and risk damaging the structure. I considered turning the structure upside down and cutting the floor from the bottom but that too risks damaging the structure. There are some fine details that are fairly flimsy and could easily be broken off with either method. I’ve already broken off two of the awning windows that come in an open position.
One other thing to consider is that I bought this item on ebay and the first one I received came in a box that had been badly damaged by the USPS even though it had been clearly marked as fragile. A large hole had been punched in the bottom of the box. I took pictures of the box and the item once it was unpacked and notified the seller. He was most gracious in offering me a replacement and I returned the original. The floor of the structure had been pushed upward which compromised the structural integrity. One end of the engine house was noticeably out of plumb. I’m thinking cutting through the floor could produce a similar result.
Running railroad ties across a concrete floor probably isn’t prototypical. If I do use sectional track, I would probably paint the ties gray to represent concrete ties although I’m not sure how prototypical that would be either.
I’m wondering if anyone on this forum has purchased this structure and how they ran rails through it.
It’s good to know that it is made from MDF. I didn’t know they made it that thin but looking at the unpainted bottom does look like MDF. That certainly rules out using any type of solvent intended for plastics. I’m thinking Gorilla Clear Grip might be a good choice. I’ve used it on ceramics but it’s recommended for many types of materials including wood and plastic and doesn’t foam and expand the way original Gorilla Glue does. I’ll test it out on some scrap pieces first.
I model in N Scale and find double-sided tape holds my track where it should be. Ballsst of course ends the discussion!