So Many Questions

[maczimb]

Boy am I getting confused???
I have seen layouts with the track on cork roadbed placed directly on the bench top!
What do you guys use to fix it to the bench top?? glue rail to cork and cork to bench?? what glue??
I've read about the use of foam, I assume , styrene?. Is the track and cork mounted directly onto the foam? and how?
My proposed layout has a 2 1/2 percent grade, I only intend to use short trains so it shouldn't be a problem, do I use the foam to create the grade?? or is it only used for scenery??
How do I cut the foam??
HELP!!!
Mac

 

[mike8693]

Usually you attach the roadbed to the tabletop then the track to the roadbed. Some people will glue cork and track some will nail it. As far as road bed I much prefer Woodland Scenics Foam roadbed. It doesn't require presoaking and it doesn't crumble after a few years and foam is quieter.The foam is the 4x8 sheets of insulation at lowes or home depot. It is easy to carve and make grades but another easy thing would to use Woodland Scenics Foam risers that come in many grades. I use foam sheets then foam roadbed then track. Attached with foam glue from lowes. You put it in a calk gun and away you go. and styrene is what most plastic models are made of not foam.

 

[Selector]

Cork is a natural product that does dry out after a while, but it takes a long time, and usually is exacerbated by high heat. The foam is easy to use since it comes in one long roll.

I have found that the foam-specific glues (that are foam-friendly and won't dissolve it), such as Liquid Nails for Projects, and PL300 are somewhat more costly than Ye Olde Cheapo basic acrylic latex caulking in a tube. It works in the same caulking gun that looks like a Sten Gun from WWII.

The idea is to spread the caulking in a thin 1/4" bead, a wavy one, and then use a plastic or metal spatula to spread it close to paper-thin over the center line for your track plan that you drew previously.

(Hint - make sure the center line you are following is for a proven track plan...one you have run engines and cars over when they were temporarily nailed into position. Nothing worse than caulking your roadbed, waiting until it is set overnight, then caulking the rails to the roadbed, waiting another day, and then finding that your trains don't work on it for some reason.)

As I have just alluded, once the cork is dry, upon weighting with stacks of books and magazines to keep it flat while the caulking sets, you then do the same thing with the tracks. A wavy tiny bead, spread paper thin, and the tracks joined and pressed into position over the centerline. Use soda and soup tins, full ones, on their sides atop the rails to weight the track sections while the caulk sets.

Howzzat!?

 

[Aarons72s]

I use cork roadbed on all my layouts. Never had any problem with it and I did not soak it in water either. And mine is curved down to 18" radius. I glue it down with plain old white glue, the stuff you send with kids to school. To hold the cork in place until the glue dries I use good old push pins, posterpins or thumb tacks. Whatever your personal prefrence to call them is. I just hammer them down until dry. I then remove them. I used to nail the cork butt this way is quicker and produces a better roadbed to me. As to attaching the track I sometimes glue and sometimes nail. I nail all switches in do to easier to remove if a problem is discovered. For complex track I nail it down as the glue usely sets before I can get it all set into place.As to flex track and most sectional ttrack I glue. What I use in glueing the track to the roadbed is clear liquid nails or a clear calk. All you need is a real thin layer, alittle thicker on curves made with flextrack. I then hold the track down with the above thumbtacks until the glue dries. Has eorked out great for me over last 15 years.

 

[SpaceMouse]

The problem with gluing track to roadbed to ply is that you are stuck with a flat layout and real life is never flat. But you say you will go up? What about water run off from your hills and mountains. How will that get under the track? It's better to plan your scenery before you place track and allow certain areas to be below grade level like it is in real life.