Hello, I have a model railway laid out and up untill now I was useing it with the track just lieying on the surface. But after a few problems with the track moving when the train goes over it I decided to TRY and secure the track to the board. I went out and bought some cork to lay under that track (cause that was what I was told that I would need) cut it and laid it under the track, I go and start nailing the track down and after a while I found that the track was starting to get uneven (it would go up and down, and lose it's original shape) plus I was having trouble when the nail head would become flesh with the top of the rail (and could bairly get it to go in the rest of the way.) Can someone please give me step by step instructions on how to secure the track to the base or point me in the right direction on how to do it.
BTW I also checked around and unfortunately there is not model rail club around where I live, so I'm pretty much on my own here.
Thanks in advance.
Corey.
Corey, welcome to our group. Its always a good idea to secure the track. What track are you using? If its atlas, each piece has three nail holes. If your using cork roadbed under the track, a 1/2" nail will be good enough to hold the track on the plywood base. Carefully use a nail set to put the nail almost touching the tie. The track should float a bit. I don't nail down switches but I make sure that each piece of track connected at the switch is nailed. Use a straight edge to keep straight sections straight, and use a compass to mark the radius for your curves. If your track is bumpy, make sure the cork is flat and no nails sticking up in the cork. Check to make sure each rail joiner connection is made correctly or you'll have a dead spot or a bump. Many of use have had this problem, I had it the other day.
Hello Corey, the track is the most important part of trouble free model railroading so take your time and then you only have to do it once. I don't know what you have your layout on, plywood, styrofoam, homasote, etc. I used homasote roadbed glued on plywood and I merely pushed the spikes through with a pair of pliars. If your using styrofoam I would think a water base adheasive or some use latex caulking compound for the track and roadbed. On plywood with cork roadbed I would use contact adheasive to glue the cork to the plywood and then use the track nails with the nail set as the above poster stated. All track sections should be soldered on the outside of the rail. Depending on the size of your pike you may have to install a buss line to carry the current to the further reaches of your track. Also temperature and humidy must be taken into consideration especially in areas of hot to cold climates. You must allow a gap where the rails join each other to allow for expansion and contraction, cause they will move.
Hello and thanks for the welcome, First yes it is Atlas tracks, under that is the cork, under that is artificial turf (the fake green grass.) then under that is plywood for the table. I have the right size of nails for it. How many nails do I use for each track section? I was putting one at each end of the track, the cork is perfectly flat. My problem is comming from where each track joins it makes a dip cause of it being nailed down. I am going to solder the tracks after I get them assembled. If you have 'The Atlas Beginner's Guide to HO MODEL RAILROADING' Book #9 the setup I'm useing is the one on page 40 and 41 (also called 'The Yardmaster') But I'm thinking about modifying it so there is two yards and a mainline.
The dip at the joints is probably caused by overdriving the nails. The problem with plywood, it is difficult to pull the nail up a bit if overdriven. You might want to invest in a spike puller, flush end nippers will also work.
As mentioned above, the rails should float a little up and down.
It may be that the nails holding the track are too tight. They shouldn't bend the tie or it will change the gauge of the track and cause derailments. If the track is laid correctly, you'll have years of trouble free operation without having to solder the joints. When we built my brothers layout 20+ years ago, Most joints were left unsoldered and the layout works great today. We only soldered joints on curves where we used flex track. The nails should hold the track down but let it float a little. I use a piece of paper folded in half to check the nails. If I can slide the paper under the track, and the nail is firm but there is a gap between it and the tie, its fine. Overtight nails will distort the track. Also use the center hole to nail into, Just don't make them too tight.
so should I use all 3 holes or just the middle hole?
use what ever it takes to keep the track down. Just don't have the nails too tight and don't have the track so loose that they become separated.
You are using sectional track, right? Do make sure that each section is joined. After sliding the pieces together, run your finger over the joint, both ways. It should slide smoothly back and forth. Otherwise you have a rail resting ON the joiner and not IN the joiner.
You mention plywood, grass mat, cork roadbed, track. If you have the cork roadbed on top of the mat you may have created a problem. I'd lay the cork on top of the mat, then cut the mat so the cork lies directly on the plywood.
Gene
Thank you guy's so much for the information, I just have one more question. I did some research and found out I can do my layout (a little bit modified) useing EZ track from Bachmann, how easier would it be to use that and then nail that to the board? and what size of nail would I use? Advantages and dissadvantages about useing EZ track compaired to the track I'm useing now? Yes I'm using sectional track, I found that (and this was before I even started to nail the track down the first time) the connections were not smooth, I checked, double checked and even tripple checked all the connections were laying in the joiners (not on.) I was told all the track was the same guage, what could cause that.
Thanks a bunch again.
Corey.
P.S. It's guy's like you that make a new person feel welcome to model railroading and feel like we can do it even if we are totally beginners. I just hope that in the future I will have enough knowledge to help new people as well.
Price wise, stick with Atlas.
For the ease of laying track for your layout EZtrack is the quickest to get you running with fewer start-up problems. My whole layout is EZTrack . It was done for the ease of installation. Accessories for flextrack are easily adaptable to EZTrack. I think you will find more and more modelers are using EZTrack. If you are a rivet counter it would be hard to justify using it.
Don
corey9212, I know exactly what you are going through and it can be a real headache. I also went to EZ track, but it didn't matter whether it was screws or nails, it was a warped up mess and a derail nightmare. I finally ripped out everything and started over. But this time I used a hot glue gun to secure my EZ track roadbeds and I have had no more problems, except with crossovers, and that was another nightmare. I finally done away with all crossovers, as all "opinions" I tried just didn't work. There seems to be not enough depth in the frog for a smooth transfer. Plus you are asking for a short out nightmare with blown decoders, if you are running DCC. Also soldering joints can create problems with continuity, as expansion will break soldered connections. I developed a horse shoe shaped bronze wire connection I soldered at each joint. It allows the joint to expand and keep it's continuity. I just soldered the legs straddled the joint. You just have to experiment what works for you. I also used a continuous 18 gauge jumper wire around track, but it was a soldered mess at each connection. I finally cut it all loose and went with the horse shoe wires. They are about the gauge of a human hair, easy to solder and practically invisible. The main thing is don't get aggravated. Quit, calm down, go back and try again. Happy railroading!
Corey - i have mentioned several times that I have friends who use silicone caulking to secure track. It doesn't take much, just a bead done the middle of the track and since the silicone never hardens it is possible to reposition track.
Bachmann EZ track has the advantage of coming with ballast so it looks a lot more realistic.
Some modelers prefer Atlas sectional track, others use long three foot sections. There are even people who hand lay track.
My advice is to find one kind that you like for appearance or price. Just remember that Atlas track should be mounted on road bed. You can buy cork roadbed.
Corey....visit a Local Hobby Shop and purchase a basic "how to" magazine for beginners on model railroading.
Thank you for the info. I went ahead and ordered EZ track (holy cow it is going to cost me onver $500.00 CDN) I will look into other ways of secureing the track and find out whats best for my layout. I keep hearing about an EZ track book that explains a lot of stuff on model railroading with EZ track. I will look for that book and buy it. I get all my parts on Tuesday and will let you guy's know how it went (with putting together and securing the track.)
Corey,
Be very careful in assembling the Easy-Track. The roadbed snaps together very easily - so easily it's easy to miss the fact that the track sections are not connected.
Maybe that's the reason for the name.
Gene
I am presently expanding my ho railroad and I continue to use atlas code 83 on homasote and ply. The homasote is so easy to nail, just push in with needle nose pliers. Like this
(http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/pdleth/101_0108.jpg)
I found this picture at the NMRA site of Steven Mallery's PRR Buffalo Line. Notice this is atlas directly on ply http://pamodelrailroads.com/smallery/pictures.htm (http://pamodelrailroads.com/smallery/pictures.htm)
(http://pamodelrailroads.com/smallery/pics/wideangle/Drury2.jpg)
That is a totally awesome layout !!! A lot of time and effort went into that . I must admit that I am planning to lay my tracks on extruded insulation when I finally get a round building my layout . Still have a lot of equipment and materials to buy. I finally finished replacing all the couplings with knuckles .
if you can find homasote, try a 1/2" x 4' x 8' and see how you like it. It is rather dusty to cut so if you need smaller pieces have the lumber yard cut it. My pieces are 2' x 4'.
I used (Tentest ) homasote for my whole layout . Ifastened it directly to the 1/2" plywood with a product called No-Nails. This made the whole base very ridgid and sound deadening.
My EZTrack is fastened to the base with nails that go through the homasote and just into the plywood leaving some space to allow the EZtrack to move a bit. The turnouts are fastened down firmly to make sure they are flat to the base . I have 10 turnouts and I have had a problem with only one. There is a photo of my layout posted on one of the threads . I believe the thread referred to what have we modeled . If I can remember the thread I wll let you know.
Don
corey9212
Also, be careful if you have any grades to make them gradual with a smooth transition, or you will lose more sleep! SteamGene has helped me a lot of times with some good advice!
Hi Corey,
I can relate to your problem as I was at that stage 2 years ago. I put together a small layout using Atlas TruTrack. It was secured with Atlas track nails. A great tip from my LHS helped a lot in securing the track to largely plywood. If you get a #62 drill bit and a pin vise, use it to drill into the plywood through the guide holes in the track. If you do that it is easy to put in the nails with just a nail set and a light tap with a small hammer. As noted by others, don't bend the ties. If you don't drill, the nails may bend and you will have to use far too much force likely causing the ties, and hence track to deform. TruTrack is the Atlas equivalent of EZ track.
A year ago I ripped up the TruTrack and replaced it with Kato unitrack as I had some problems with the Atlas turnouts when I converted to DCC. The Unitrack is far superior to TruTrack.
I sympathize with the cost as I too am in Canada. Luckily I have a good friend in Minnesota so I ordered the Kato track on line and had it shipped to him otherwise I would have paid $60 each for Kato #6 remote turnouts.
Dave S
I will deffinately check out that homasote, I got my new track today (EZ track) and am curious, I was using all Atlas before and now The only Atlas part is the Selector switch, I was looking at the wiring on the remote turnouts it has a green wire (that I know goes to the switch) but it also has a red wire. I am configureing it out so that I can run 2 engines. It has a total of 10 sections that have the terminal rerailers to power to each section. Do I need to use the red wire still on the turnouts? or can I just use the green one?
Thanks again.
Ok, now I'm a little fustrated. I got my track and started putting it together when I found out the layout won't work. When assembled there is a space that is 2cm wide (in other words the track is too short to fully connect.) I checked around and no one here has the book (or even heard of) 'E-Z model railroads, The E-Z track planning Guide & layout book' I can't even find a digital copy that I can buy and download. Does anyone know where I can go to find E-Z track layouts (and supply list for the layout) cause I used RTS 8.0 for my initial layout and even though it said it would work, it didn't. I also tried AnyRail with no luck making a layout that would work. Any help with this would very greatly be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Corey
Dear Corey,
2cm is about 3/4". Expand the other side of your layout with a 2-1/4" straight, then use a 3" straight were your gap was.
I call this differential gap filling. (3" - 2.25" = 0.75")
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Joe Satnik
Good Afternoon Corey , the book in question is the book listed on the home page of this site. It should be available from either Bachmann or from your LHS . It was long in coming to market but it should be still available . Checkout the dealer you acquired the track from.
Hello, I finally got my track together and assembled, after a few wiring headaches (cause I'm running analog controll.) It's all finally up and running. (well, kind of.) My 2 locomotives and cars came from two different beginner train sets from two different companies. One has the newer magnetic knuckle couplers. But the other one has a different coupler (It was an older trainset.) It has a different coupler. I want to switch it to the new knuckle type with magnet but I have no Idea who made this trainset and engine and cars. The only info I could get from the engine was on the side it had '5506' as the engine number under that it had 'GR 20' on the bottom it said 'Lifeline' and had '19306' stamped on the bottom as well. I know this isn't much but if anyone has any ideas. Please let me know.
The maker of the cars and locomotive makes little difference. What is important is the type of "other" coupler and where it is mounted.
1. Does the "other: coupler when viewed from the top look something like a sickle? From the side does a long straight bar point towards the track? If so, it's a horn hook coupler, actually about the same age as the knuckle.
2. Are the coupler pockets mounted to the trucks or the body? Can you see a way to open the coupler pockets?
If the couplers are mounted on the trucks, the best thing to do is to cut off the coupler pocket and throw the thing away. Buy some packaged #5 Kadees - thus giving yourself coupler pockets. Mount them to the carbody, shimming if necessary, and follow instructions on placing the couplers.
If the couplers pockets are body mounted and they have a removable bottom, simplly remove it throw away the horn hook, and replace with a Kadee #5. For this, buy a value pack of couplers - without the coupler pockets.
Gene
Hey Gene, yes it does look like a sickle and have a long straight bar pointing towards the track, the hole where it pivots is very small compared to other coupler pivot holes. They mount to the truck, you pull the truck off and then just twist a bit and it pops straight up. I was looking at upgrading all my couplers to Kadees cause of the magnetic uncoupler (I think it is a really simple but cool idea.) I am also saving to run DCC but I need to buy the locomotives and two controlls (one for me and one for someone else to use at the same time.) Talk about expensive for 4 locomotives and two controlls.
Good Morning Corey, If you don't want to go to a lot of trouble and are going to reuse the truck mounted coupler pockets Kadee makes an adapter called a talgo mount adapter. If you go this route make sure you also get their installation Tool . This will allow you to use Kadee couplers with "relatively " little extra modifactions to the coupler pocket. that of course depends on the type of coupler you use. Check out the Kadee website for more information . I just went through that last month. It is truely amazing how many variations there are to coupler mounts. If all else fails , take two fingers of Scotch and try again on the morrow. Skol!!!
If you are going to do nothing but run a train down the track, then a talgo mount is okay. However, if you are going to do switching operations - dropping off and picking up cars - doing a fare amount of backing, then it is best to body mount. In all seriousness, once you compare a new car, whether it be an Athearn kit or an Accurail, or an Atlas or Bachmann ready made, your old train set cars are going to look rather bad.
Gene
Hello, I will probably for now just mount it on the truck cause SteamGeme has a really good point on the last part. I bought 2 brand new grain hoppers and sitting on the track with my other stock it put them to shame. I will probably use the old stock with new couplers on the trucks untill I can afford new stock. I'm saving right now for that DCC stuff ( It's going to cost me $661 for 2 locomotives, 2 decoders, and 2 controllers, ouch, lol.) The controllers I'm getting is the Zephyr Starter Set and the Digitrax DT400 Loconet super throttle, I tried them both out (along with other controllers) and found them to be the best for my layout (right now has one staging yard on each side, a mainline connecting them with sidings along the way for 3 industries, so lots of switching and lots of coupling and un coupling.)