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Track Attached to Plywood or Cork?
Clint writes:
“Before attaching my track directly to ply should I lay down cork first? What should I use – track tacks/nails, or glue what type?”
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Cork!!
I guess
Cork. You can undo track from cork a lot easier.
Many railroaders use homosote over the plywood for better nailing,sound insulation, and scenery application. The process is plywood, homosote board, cork then track. Do not just affix the track to plywood direct.
Cork to deaden the sound
I have done both. First, what type of operation is performed? For main line work, use cork, you can afix the track and road bed in several ways. I glue the Track and road bed, then with some weights, and nails, let dry then pull the nails before adding ballast. For siding and working yards fix the track directly into the plywood the same way minus the road bed. Biggest challenge is to make sure that the track is level and smooth. In addition, I a fix my feeder wires under the track first, make sure that the solder joints are sound. Then drill small holes to run them through the sub base.
Today there are more options than just cork. Foam works quite well and does a good job of reducing the non prototypical sound. Homosote is often talked about but not available everywhere. It is common in the US not so much everywhere else. It is also very messy when you cut it. If you have access to it and can deal with the mess go with homosote but at a minimum put cork between your track and the plywood. I use a thin layer of Acrylic latex calk to bond the cork to plywood and hold the cork in place with tacks until it sets. I use the same product to attach the track to the cork.
I made a small test oval of track. I glued the track, using cork underlay on half, and foam on the other. I was using flextrack, and I found it was very hard to make the join between sections smooth if on a curve. There was always a kink. I tried using track pins, but as the baseboard was foam insulation board they didn’t take very well! But I found that when I was trying to pin the track over the foam insulation, the foam compressed. As a result, I am now laying track, using cork, over a plywood roadbed, gluing the cork to the plywood but using pins to lay the track. I used the clear DAP acrylic caulking as glue.
to avoid kinks in the assembly between flextrack I use the tracksetta to hold the track inplace.
To avoid kinks at joints in curved flextrack, offsetting the rail ends by at least 9 rail ties works for me.
I use a variety of underlays (I experiment a bit) including foam weather strip, butyl rubber, cork, coreflure, double sided adhesive tape ( as used for hanging pictures on walls) all in an effort to cut down on train noise. They all work, however cork and foam underlays from your local hobby shop are easier to obtain. The 2mm thick sheet used under laminate flooring is also good under large yards.
Use something, but remember to sad and seal/paint the plywood first as some of the adhesives prefer a smoother surface to stick to. Also be careful of temperature. In Oz the temperature can be as high as 32 degrees C (about 85 F) for much of the year and all glues soften under those conditions.
Plywood alone makes for noisy running
I had written a long answer, and inadvertently lost it. But I agree with Hervey. I used clear DAP Alex caulk, less than $2 a tube at H-D. Works great. And you can pry it up with a 3″ putty knife. When you spread it/I used a 1″ putty knife, do so thin. Just enough to see. The 1″ is sufficient for HO. No ooze. It works with track on wood, plastic, cork, or Homasote.
Consider also whether you might want to modify or make additions to the layout in the future.
Nails will be easier to remove than strong glue.
Nails can be removed from cork easily, but it’s much harder work to get them out of plywood.
I use standard gauge cork for the mainline.. N-scale and none for sidings and spurs. Secured with track nails until ballast has dried.
My track is screwed and glued to an MDF board .
The board is heavy but as strong as a 5 ply wood board
My track is screwed and glued to an MDF board .
The board is heavy but as strong as a 5 ply wood board
I use Woodland Scenics HO scale track bed because it comes in a continuous 24 foot length and there is a facility for cutting it down the centre to follow curves. I lay this on my plywood and secure with double sided tape until I have laid the track on it and the track is then secured using track screws which is readily available on E-bay. I have never had any problems.
Cork sounds the way to go. I will also investigate Homosote thanks Hervey and thanks to others too. Much appreciated. 👍
I use small finishing nails/pins on the OUTSIDE of the sleeper web. There’s no danger of damaging the sleepers or gauge narrowing. One must use a rim punch. It’s easier to remove the nails/pins and slight adjustments can be made very easily.. My track is laid on cork on top of chipboard.
Use painted cork under the track, foam starts to break up after many years. If you glue the track it is just about impossible to get the track up later if you change your design or the track is damaged,etc, I know of people having to use a chisel and mallet to get track up. I have used track pins and screws to hold track down and have come to the conclusion screws are best, a small screw can be adjusted and removed to change design, add super elevation. Layout wood moves around an hotter climates and further requires track adjustment. I agree with Phillip Collins what ever you use, tack down the outside of the sleeper it does not cause track gauge changes.
When I responded, I might have not been clear. I wanted no nails, no metal near the track. So I used DAP Alex exclusively, It can be pried up if needed. It is not permanent. But on my layout it’s over a year and the track is fine. No problems. I caulked the roadbed and track at one time, weighed them down with cans. Easy as can be. Why use nails and then have to pull them? The weight of cans was more than sufficient. Oh yes. I painted everything first. Earth color.
I USED CORK board and regret I did.. It absorbs moisture and it expand and contract leaving high and low spots as well spaces at seams. I have s gague and it made very difficult and time consuming to get all the track level.
Thank you all for the information. I’m starting to make my N-scale railway (finally after 50 years)