Track laying Q's

[Paul60]

I just bought a sheet of 2200x1200x30mm XPS foam board to use as my layout base.

 

Should I lay the track directly to the foam and if so, should I tack it down, glue it with PVA or both ?

 

Also, I see various rolls of tape like products to lay track on. Do I need to use any of those ?

 

Any tips appreciated.

 

 

[2e0dtoeric]

Foam board - if the stuff I'm thinking of is the same as you have - is quite floppy!

Before you even think of laying track, you want a really rigid baseboard that doesn't flop, sag, twist or droop! That, in turn means a really strong underframe.

You can glue the foamboard onto a ply baseboard, for sound-deadening benefits (but make sure the glue you use doesn't dissolve the foamboard!!) and then you won't need any foam rubber or cork strips to go under the track.

You will probably find that normal track pins are not gripping the foam, so the track tends to creep about. In that case you can use double-sided sticky tape, but beware that it, too, can creep over time -especially if you use flexi-track, rather than set-track.

Save yourself a lot of hassle, and paint the board green and brown, in random splodges, before you lay any track, then it will look like ground, and not stark white snow!

 

Have a good read of the thread above - getting started with extensions - and anything else you can find on the web or on paper. It will save you a lot of frustration and money!

Before you stick anything down permanently, have a good play with the railway, and see if you are happy with the result, and that everything works!

[Fishmanoz]

2e0, I think you'll find XPS foam board is quite rigid not floppy.  Take a look at the thread titled Extruded Polystyrene Baseboard now down on page 4 of this forum.  Even so, track fixing would be better done with glue, PVA or latex based, rather than pins.  There is coverage of this in the thread too concerning the need to seal the surface before using various products on it.

[Paul60]

 Thanks for the tips 2e0 & Fishmanoz

[NormanQ4]

I've been doing some experimenting with this and this is my solution.

Go to the sewing basket and get some 25mm long dressmaker's pins.

As you progress laying your track, when the straight sections are straight and the curved sections are curved push the pins through the sleepers into the foam with your fingers.

Once all that loop etc. of track is laid  go along and gently slide the track up with the pins just far enough to put some spots of glue under the sleepers.

PVA sticks to the sleepers but not very well, I would use latex based adhesive or panel adhesive but definitely not contact glue.

When the glue sets remove the pins and return them to the sewing basket since domestic disputes between model railway enthusiasts and would be dressmakers will always end in tears, and I hate to see grown men cry.

[Paul60]

I've been doing some experimenting with this and this is my solution.

Go to the sewing basket and get some 25mm long dressmaker's pins.

As you progress laying your track, when the straight sections are straight and the curved sections are curved push the pins through the sleepers into the foam with your fingers.

Once all that loop etc. of track is laid  go along and gently slide the track up with the pins just far enough to put some spots of glue under the sleepers.

PVA sticks to the sleepers but not very well, I would use latex based adhesive or panel adhesive but definitely not contact glue.

When the glue sets remove the pins and return them to the sewing basket since domestic disputes between model railway enthusiasts and would be dressmakers will always end in tears, and I hate to see grown men cry.

Thanks Norman.

 

[Paul60]

I've been doing some experimenting with this and this is my solution.

Go to the sewing basket and get some 25mm long dressmaker's pins.

As you progress laying your track, when the straight sections are straight and the curved sections are curved push the pins through the sleepers into the foam with your fingers.

Once all that loop etc. of track is laid  go along and gently slide the track up with the pins just far enough to put some spots of glue under the sleepers.

PVA sticks to the sleepers but not very well, I would use latex based adhesive or panel adhesive but definitely not contact glue.

When the glue sets remove the pins and return them to the sewing basket since domestic disputes between model railway enthusiasts and would be dressmakers will always end in tears, and I hate to see grown men cry.

Thanks Norman.