Attaching track to foamboard?

[viperman]

My layout is 100% sectional. When laying the cork roadbed, I would use toothpicks to hold the shape. My steps were as follows:

1) lay track out per the trackplan
2) draw a line down the center of the tracks on the foam
3) remove the tracks so just the dotted/dashed line was there
4) use Liquid Nails to glue the roadbed down
5) lay one side of the roadbed down using toothpicks to hold the shape
6) repeat steps 4,5 on the other side of the roadbed
7) place tracks down on the roadbed
8) place spikes in the pre-drilled holes of the tracks to hold it in place on the roadbed

[RobertInOntario]

I was just thinking, I have a lot of Gorilla Glue left over. Could I not simply use that?

I went to two places today (a Shoppers and Home Depot) and neither had the most generic, everyday sort of Elmer's Glue. Since the Gorilla Glue worked so well on my foamboard, maybe I could just use a few drops of that to attach my track to the layout?

Thanks again,
Rob

[MasonJar]

You can, as it is great for joining dissimilar materials (as well as foam to foam). But it does get kind of bubbly, so you'll want to make sure that it doesn't expand up and over your ties/track.

Whatever you do, be sure to take pictures for us!

Andrew

[e-paw]

I have used a hot glue gun to tack the the track to my roadbed + foam board. It holds well but you have to work fast because it hardens quickly. After that I just ballasted as usual. I have some pics of how it came out in my kitbash challenge. It was the first time I worked with foam board and it came out well.

[RobertInOntario]

You can, as it is great for joining dissimilar materials (as well as foam to foam). But it does get kind of bubbly, so you'll want to make sure that it doesn't expand up and over your ties/track.
Whatever you do, be sure to take pictures for us!
Andrew

Thanks, Andrew. I was thinking of only using a few very small drops of this glue. I think that would be sufficient to hold the track.

Sure, I'll post some pix in due course. Right now, the layout doesn't look much different than it did a few months ago. I've tweaked the track & added a passing siding, but haven't done much scenery yet. I plan to get to that in the fall/winter.

Actually, I'm in a bit of a quandary with the scenery because I want to keep the layout simple for storage, etc. Also, because it's such a small layout, I'm running out of room to put things! For example, I'm running out of space to have a road running across the layout. It seems that no matter where I put it, the road ends up having to cross the tracks at unsuitable places, i.e. at turnouts or interfering with my station area. I also have a really neat footbridge crossing the tracks but even that is taking up too much space, interfering with sidings, not being wide enough, etc.

I'll keep working at this and I'll post pics, as and when I come up with solutions and finish scenery.

Rob

[TrainNut]

Sounds like your railroad needs some room to grow!

[RobertInOntario]

Sounds like your railroad needs some room to grow!

Yes, that's the problem! WIthout switching to N Scale (which I've considered!), this is all I have room for at the moment. I have two layouts -- a 4x6 (which I haven't used since early-May) and this 3x5 one. So what I've ended up focussing on is something that is a hybrid between being a small layout and a micro-layout.

BTW, I have a book called "Building Micro Layouts" by Paul A Lunn. It's new this year and has lots of good space-saving and "condensing" ideas in it, which I'm trying to incorporate.

Rob

[TrainNut]

Focus on a 12" square area and see how much you can do with it. The possibilities are endless. After that, your layout will seem huge!

[RobertInOntario]

Focus on a 12" square area and see how much you can do with it. The possibilities are endless. After that, your layout will seem huge!

Yes, I think that's a good idea. And with a 3x5 layout, that's actually feasible, although I'm sure it will look huge after!

[RobertInOntario]

I actually did glue some sections of track last night using the Gorilla Glue. When I checked the layout this morning, the track was nicely & solidly glued in place. You do have to watch that you don't use too much though (as Andrew pointed out), because it does bubble up into small lumps. I think this could be easily hidden by the ballast though (when I get to that this fall/winter).

I'll carry on using this then, simply adding a few drops of this glue at 6-8" intervals. I just need enough to hold it to the track -- when I get to the ballasting, the ballast & diluted white glue should be enough to hold the rest in place.

Thanks for your help with this!

Rob

[RobertInOntario]

I've been gluing the track to the foam of this layout with Gorilla Glue and, overall, it's worked well. However, I have noticed a couple strange things. In some sections (where the glue was used) the trains run through them a little roughly -- lots of clicks and clickety-clacks. As far as I can tell, there is no glue on the tracks. The worst section is at one of my (new) Peco turnouts where the roughness is really noticeable. Occasionally, some of my older locos (with the larger flanged wheels) will derail.

This sounds bizarre, but is it possible that the glue has affected the ties and possibly the track gauge? Guess I should get my NMRA track measuring gauge out and check it... :oops:

Rob

[TrainNut]

On my last layout, where I had unballasted track, nailed to cork, glued to foam, the train ran nice and quietly. But, add a bit of ballast and things get real noisy. I'd say my ballasted sections were twice as noisy as the unballasted but I had no problems with derailments.

[RobertInOntario]

On my last layout, where I had unballasted track, nailed to cork, glued to foam, the train ran nice and quietly. But, add a bit of ballast and things get real noisy. I'd say my ballasted sections were twice as noisy as the unballasted but I had no problems with derailments.

Yes, I've noticed that too. Right now, the trains are fairly quiet but I'm sure they will get quite noisy after I've ballasted.

This leads into another topic (maybe I should start a new thread?) ... Is it best to solder the track joins before ballasting? because, with my older layout, I often encountered loss-of-current problems after ballasting. The glue/water mix almost certainly got into the track joins and affected the current. I'm a little leery of this happening again.

Rob

[viperman]

I'm considering soldering my tracks now, before I even finish detail painting and weathering the tracks, as I'm sure paint will get in the joints and cause problems too

[RobertInOntario]

I'm considering soldering my tracks now, before I even finish detail painting and weathering the tracks, as I'm sure paint will get in the joints and cause problems too

Thanks... I'm thinking this is a good thing to do to avoid problems in the future. I had painted & weathered the track on my previous layout & that may have caused some of its current problems as well.

This is such a small layout -- roughly 3x5' -- that soldering shouldn't take up too much time.

Some of my older locos -- that have larger-flanged wheels & don't run as smoothly as the brand new ones -- didn't run that well on my old layout but seem to run fine on this new one. So I'm thinking the current is quite good on this one and I want to keep it that way!

BTW, neither layout is DCC -- they're both conventional, old-fashioned DC which is fine for me.

Rob