With this still-far-from-complete shelf layout, I continue to be amazed (and delighted!) with how much ~6 square feet of layout has taught me.
This post covers my journey through the world of....
TIES!
Track System
So far I've been using Central Valley tie strips for all non-turnout trackwork. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cvmw.com/cvt/index.htm">http://www.cvmw.com/cvt/index.htm</a><!-- m -->). These are (loosely) flex track without rail .
The tie strips are molded from black styrene plastic in one foot lengths, with a single web holding everything together. The web is about half the height of the ties which will make it easy to hide with ballast. It's also super flexible - I've bent them down to a 6" radius (without rail) with no problems.
One feature I found cool is that the strips are designed to be joined one to another to create a single string of ties as long as you wish. I suspect that this will make it easier to lay very smooth trackwork, with natural easments and such. The feature is nicely implemented via half-thickness ties on either end of the strips; one end has the bottom half of a tie with two small indexing holes, the other end has the top half of a tie, with two indexing pins on it's underside. Apply styrene cement, align the indexing holes and pins, and off you go!
They produce three styles:
· 2001 Mainline Ties - These model 9' ties on about 21-22" centers. Too long for my '30's steam era layout (but I used them anyway...).
· 2002 Branchline Ties - These model 8' ties on approximately 26" centers. Perfect for my industry spurs
· 2003 8'6" Mainline Ties - These are on 19-20" centers and are 6" shorter than the 2001 ties (more appropriate for my era), they also include rail clamp (anti-creeper) detail.
What I've learned
This post covers the methods I experimented with to attach the ties to the subroadbed. I've tried five different methods:
1. Drops of white glue between ties that have already been located
· Pluses - expedient
· Minuses - Messy and didn't self level as much as I'd hoped, so the dried glue film / blobs remained near the top of the tie, though nothing that can't be covered by ballast. A slightly diluted glue might work better with this techique (to help it settle a bit). Since white glue doesn't bond to styrene, it won't be tolerate rough handling.
2. Styrene Cement dabbed onto the ends of each tie (CVMW recommendation). The softened styrene bonds with the Homasote
· Pluses - Relatively quick, very solid, super easy to apply after the ties are where you want them. This is perfect for situations where for some reason you cannot apply the adhesive beforehand, and will work with any subroadbed.
· Minuses – Smells bad, can only be used with styrene ties (i.e. CVT).
3. Applying a bead of white glue before putting the ties down
· Pluses - Easy, seems solid so far.
· Minuses - Not tacky, so it requires anchoring the strip for alignment until the glue dries. I used spikes (see photo) to clamp the ties tightly to the Homasote until the glue dried.
4. Adhesive Caulk
· Pluses - No clamping needed to hold the ties in place - just plunk them down into a thin bed of caulk, and align as needed - it stays. Nice.
· Minuses - Messier than styrene glue.
5. Spiking: About every 10th tie was spiked - I think that is longer than what's considered best practice for wood tie handlaying, but the CVT tieplate detail seems to hold the rail in gauge between the spikes. We'll see.
· Pluses -
- Solid
- Very easy to disassemble into base components if needed
- Two for one - rail and ties are fastened at the same time.
· Minuses
- Pilot holes are required for the spikes to avoid splitting the tie. I drilled through one of the empty spike holes in the tie plates using, think, a #75 drill.
- The spike heads need to be shortened slightly so they don’t foul the rail web. This was time consuming.
Caulk is the current hot trend, and I can see why. I think this will be the the best process for laying long sections at a time, at least for me. I've become a big fan of the styrene glue method; it's perfect for spot use, or even longer runs where caulk can't be used for some reason. The only method I won't use again (except in a pinch) is dropping white glue between the ties. It works, but does nothing better than the other four.
A gallery can be found here:
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