I purchased two rolls from our local Bunnings(hardware store chain). One roll was 100mm wide and the other 75mm wide and 10m long, although rolls of 5, 10 and 25m long are available. It curves reasonable well (although I have adopted a minimum of 1m minimum radius and 1.5m for almost all of my mainline) and I initially used spray adhesive to stick it to the base boards. I used double sided tape (Bear carpet tape), but at about $15 a roll of 3.5m, this was becoming expensive, but it held the track in place very securely. (stuck like the proverbial to a blanket). I tried Scotch Double sided tape, but this wasn’t very good. I found that on the smaller radii curves, the rubber started to straighten out a bit so I needed to find a better glue.

I then found that the builder was also using some of this rubber which came with an adhesive backing. So checked out the various stores and found that Mitre 10 sold 25m rolls for about $25 to $30 a roll depending on width. Bought a few rolls of the 100mm and one of 75mm and have used one roll of the 100mm to lay my track base around the room. I have laid about 20m of double track on this and there is no sign of movement.

I have also changed my method of securing the track to the rubber underlay. I use a hot glue gun to hold the track at about 100 to 150mm spacing. I put a dab of glue on the end of the sleeper and stick it to the rubber. My curves are pre-formed to the radius I want (~1.5m) by soldering 3 lengths of track together (adjusting the rail lengths as I go) and leaving it on the track base overnight (curved) before gluing the next day. The ply support for the rubber was already cut and finished to 100mm wide and cut accurately to the radius I needed. This ensured an accurate guide when laying the rubber. I vacuumed the baseboard before sticking the rubber down to ensure no dust would decrease the adhesive strength. The rubber also has a cut that runs longitudinally along the edge as the builders remove this 10mm portion after the concrete is set and apply an epoxy sealer over the joint. i used this line to guide me in the placement of the inner edge of the curved track and I used the glue gun on the outer edge. This combination gave me a very smooth curve for the 90 degree corner curves.

The parallel track was placed in a similar fashion but using spacers of 300 to 400mm long for straight track and 20 to 25mm long for the curves. These were laid on top of the sleepers between the two inner rails. because the first track was already fixed in position, it was very easy to add the other track very quickly.

This track work has been in place for some 8 months now with no movement. I have spaced the parallel tracks at O gauge track spacing and run some of my father’s old O gauge loco’s on it (They weigh some 5 to 10kg). No sign of trouble, so I think it should be OK for my HO trains.

The room is 6m by 7m with an around the wall shelf varying from 300mm wide to 800mm and a U shaped peninsula in the middle of the room connected to the outer circle on one leg of the U. Hope this assists people with some new views on issue requiring solutions.

Yes, I agree. A wealth of wisdom!!!

If it was possible to “like” comments, David, I think your reply would get a lot!

Now comes your sticking point. Some guys stick the cork down with PVA (White Glue), others No More Gaps (decorator’s caulk, others use Silicon sealer, but none nail the cork down. The rail sections come next. Some chaps use all or one of the above adhesives, others use track pins, and some even use screws.

I use Liquid Nails (construction adhesive) for both.

Pick a method, try it, doesn’t work for you; try another; invent a new way.. No one will bung you in the brig for being different.

Building a layout on an 8 x 4 is a good idea, but see if you can cut it down the middle sometime in the future for expansion. Oh Yes, you will want it to grow one day.

I’m sure I’ve missed a few things, but that’s what rewatching those videos just before starting the next stage is for.
Good luck.

Morgan has the best approach. Use PVA on the ballast, if you wet it again, you can get the track up if need be.

I did a trial layout using cork DAP’d to foam and then the track DAP’d to the cork. I found it very hard to get the track lined up correctly, and impossible to do a flex track join on a curve. So for the layout I am building now I am DAP’ing the cork to a plywood bed and then pinning the track.

Have fun!

One piece of advice, don’t secure down turnouts; let them float, being held in place by the leading and trailing tracks. This will help ensure that the points won’t bind. Also, be sparing with the glue when applying the ballast.