I have avoided glueing track, as once it's laid and glue cured, in's a ripping process to change it. So I nail track and if I don't like the lay......I can lift it and reposition. But somewhere I had seen an illustration showing nailing track through the provided tie holes a little too firm, distorted the tie slightly. Sinking the center of the tie and thus narrowing the gauge. I poo-pooed this as I felt the tie distortion was very minimal. Well....I have been nailing my track, with plastic ties, rather firmly with a push pin nailer this time for speed. The nails I'm using are meant for the subject track and the track is on cork roadbed. Just for fun, I grabbed a gage to check gauge. I couldn't believe it, everywhere there was a nail, the gauge was tight....quite tight. The track gauge was not outside of gauge, but it was tight and would likely be troublesome with engines or rolling stock. Currently I'm in the process of modifying the push nailer to keep the nail head from distorting the ties. Posted FYI.
That's interesting. I would not have even thought about that happening. Maybe that was an issue on a previous layout that I never realized was what was causing issues. Be neat to hear how your modifications work out.
I'm going to try to decide how I want to approach this nailer mod. If I think it's worthy of posting....I will. But I really don't want to mickey mouse this nailer mod tho.
I'm using Atlas code 55 N scale flex track, which does not come drilled for nails.......there are indents on the bottom, but no holes. So my solution is to drill the ties as I lay the track I bought a pin vise that will fit in a cordless screwdriver, which gives me good control and slow speed. Then I drill through the ties and thru the roadbed. The bit I'm using is just barely smaller than the track nails, so I can push the nails in with my finger. It holds the track in place, but puts no down-pressure on the track. I only need to hold the track for side movement and I plan for the glue and ballast to be the main anchor for the track......in the meantime, I've had no problems with track shifting or with any gauge issues.
I agree that gluing down track makes replacement a bear. I noticed that a year or two B.C (before COVID) when it was necessary to replace a turnout where one of the moving points moved a little too much (as did the price). I use short, small sewing pins and finger-pushed them in to temporarily hold the track while the glue set and dried. Then I pulled them out if they were easily extracted (nearly all were). Those pins are slightly smaller than the holes in HO scale track, very inexpensive and very available in any fabric store or sewing supply store. They're also easily spotted since their heads are polished metal and reflect ambient light.
I resemble that, cept it was with flex's fiber/cardboard/...etc ties. Those were very easy to squeeze the gauge. At that time, I was not putting down any roadbed and attaching straight to plywood of which the 'push' had to be stronger. After I found flex plastic ties I already knew how hard too hard was. I have never directly glued ties down, I use push pins to hold everything in place then wait for the ballast over the top of stuff with diluted glue mix to dry. Of course, doing that pretty much makes your track caste-in-stone with zero adjustments with out futzing. So I started using nails not quite pushed all the way in to get the wanted alignment, then pull said nails - I have yet to see the top of a carriage bolt in any tie on the 1:1 Later
I glue all my flex track down (actually caulk it down) ..... ..... with a light bead of Dap Dynaflex 230 and use the pushpins above and let it set overnight. I feel pretty confident that since the ME flex holds it shape I could get by with drops of caulk every few inches. If you are going to ballast that would work for sure. Love how quick and easy it is to lay the flex track and the 'flexibility' of what you can do track planning. I did have an area where I change my mind about the track plan and pulled up a section with no problems even though I'd caulked it continuously. The track was reusable. Not sure how other caulks work but the Dap works fine. I also haven't been gluing my turnouts down. I caulk the track to them but not the turnout itself. If I needed to remove one I only need to slide the rail joiners back and it is free except for the wiring to it. Since I don't solder those rail joiners I power all the stock rails with drops and a drop from the frog that gets it polarity changed via a limit switch on the servo mount under the throwbar. By the time I get to ballasting, if ever, I should have a very good feel for if the turnout is reliable or not. Sumner
I've learned to test my trackwork........hence the nailing. On the current layout, I set a 1 year test period between laying and ballasting, so nailing was a necessity. To that end, I put in as few a nails as could, which turned out to be a bad choice. Code 55 track is much more flexible than the code 80 I used on the last layout, and I've experienced a lot of warping.........my yard looked like a bunch of snakes after a few months. In some cases, I just needed to pull the track back into alignment (using a straight edge) and adding more nails, and in a few cases, I actually had to pull the original nails and then renail it. This is in a temperature controlled area (temp varies a max of 5 degrees)
Well....I see a lot of fellows glue roadbed and track and that is great...they are probably better per design 'layers' than me. Anyway, for those that use a hand held push pin nailer, what I found was: 1. The 'as purchased' tool's spring is much too stout for track work. This was like working on a watch with a hammer. 2. The inner pin end needs to be held back very slightly from the outer tube end. This keeps from pushing the nail too far. So.....a trip to Ace hardware provided a much lighter spring. And some small nylon washers on the push pin to get the spring bottoming sooner, provided the small clearance between push pin end and outer tube end. I finally tuned this beast to set the Atlas track nail 'just right' and not crush the Atlas N' scale track tie......So, I ain't gonna take it back apart for photos......I really hope the description will suffice. Hawkdriver
I too nail, for reasons you describe, onto HO foam roadbed which only makes the "crushing tie" problem that much more acute until I noticed two types of nails - 1)silver in color which is thicker & then there's 2)black nails which are thinner, do not 'grip tight' while going in. N-flex has no center tie holes at all? I also noticed many use foam under layouts which, I would guess, precludes using roadbeds & nails altogether? THIS MAKES GOOD SENSE! Related Question: what's the best type paint (ie: flat brown color) for a plywood base?
Michael, I'm starting to experiment with stapling my roadbed to the substrate. Substrate here is homasote on top of 2" dense foam on top of wood framing....the cork roadbed in on top of the homasote. Here's the rationale behind this experiment; (please refrain from throwing fruits and vegetables at the explainer). The area beneath the head of a small, headed brad is much less than the area beneath the crown of a staple. So.....the staple will offer more resistance to plunging through the roadbed material. I have been successful with a hand fired stapler, but it's tough on the hand and wrist. I'm waiting for a pneumatic T50 stapler. I'm gonna reduce the air pressure until I get the desired results. If it works.....spray paint the staple crowns the roadbed color and begin shooting. Track will still be laid with nails and push pin tool. Hawkdriver
I use white glue (vinilic glue we call in italy), first i place the track in place with pins between the ties, then i ballast it and once the glue (diluted white glue with isoproylic alcohol) is set it is fixed in place. If I need to remove, or simply move it (did it a few times), just drop some vinegar, and in 3 minutes you can move it, then it sets again. if you have to fully remove it, just lift it up and scrape the ballast. The pictures are before and after complete ballast replacement (did not need to adjust the track at that time) at that time I was still using track screws for interim placement, do not use it anymore.
Micheal.......code 55 atlas has no holes............in ANYTHING, not just flex. The flex track has dimples on the bottom side where holes would/should be, but no holes. I pretty much ignore that.......I drill everything from the top, and drill thru the track and right into the roadbed/decking.
