Homasote implementation

[nachoman]

Instead of "making it rust", I put a dab of dilute matte medium (ballast solution) on every spike head, then after it dried, went and tapped the spike down snug using a special tool I made. It is a short steel rod with a slot cut in one end, that way I can tap both spikes on either side of the rail at the same time. Things have remained pretty snug so far.