Flex Track

[g-pa1]

Can someone explain to me how to attach flex track to go around a bend and attach to another piece of 9" straight track? When I bend the flextrack one rail at one end gets very long and disappears entirely at the other end. Do I need to take out 5 or 6 ties and attach the two sections of track? I have yet to solder the two track sections together but if I did and then bent it into a curve wouldn't I have to cut ties away anyway? I just seem to be flex track challenged. Gene

[ginzokid]

I was just re-reading some of this thread and noticed that Gene was having engine troubles here too. See the new thread on "one-way loco". I can't help but wonder, Gene, with all your different types of track mixed together, if you just somehow haven't created one of those electrical gremlins that rear up and bite you from time to time, like Doug's traveling short. As for your comment about Kato engines not liking small radii, not true. I have run Katos through 6-1/2" radii on a store layout with no problem. One I built for the hobby shop where I worked in Phoenix. It all boils down to what Mike and I have been trying to tell you. Slow down. The most important part of layout building is the trackwork. After all, your trains must negotiate this ribbon of nickel-silver over and over and over again. Believe it or not, model trains work on the exact same principle as the 1:1 trains do. A "steel wheel on a steel track, with a very small contact area providing the friction necessary to develop adhesion and therefore pulling power". Prototype trains have a weight to tonnage pulled ratio. So do model trains. Prototype trains do not like bumps, large gaps, bends, kinks out of gauge rail or loose rail. Guess what. Same for model trains. It is the same principle in a smaller scale. Now go back and look at your track. Get your eye right down on the rail and look along it. Is it a relatively flat ribbon or a wavy undulating snake? I did notice in your pictures that the track was not centered in the AMI roadbed at one point, but took a different curve than the roadbed itself. If you have laid out the AMI carefully and to your scaled centerline, the track should follow this same course. Right? This is again another thing I do not like about the AMI. It is very hard to reposition the track once you think you have it down. On cork, you can adjust it until it is right and then you tack it in place. You test run it, find the trouble spots, readjust by pulling a nail or two, retack, retest and finally ballast it down. AMI is not that forgiving. What all this boils down to is that you need to spend the most time on your layout actually laying the track. If you don't have perfect track work, no matter how well the layout is secnicked or lit, or how good your buildings are, if the trains will not run, no fun. B-)

[untabubba]

Pete and Mike, You know, you guys are "wearing me down". I've never given cork a shot. I'm at a juncture where I need to buy more roadbed. Maybe I'll give cork a go and see how I like it compared to the AMI. I agree the AMI can be difficult and slow going, but once you "stick it" you're "done"! Now do I glue the cork to the foam and then tack the track to the cork? Can I glue the track to the cork, or would that be "too permanent"? Give me a quick crash course and maybe I'll pick some up to work with this weekend. (I already have the Atlas track nails!) Marc Hey, I'm willing to try most anything! 😉 😄

[g-pa1]

Pete the Kato long wheelbase ed70mac is not a short radii philiac. The Kato F3 however has no problem. I agree that track work is very important. I see no fun in watching the loco's derail time after time. I am going slow and learning along the way and I thank everyone for their patience with my inquiries. Marc, did you use a hair dryer on your AMI to get the track to stick so hard? I find it pretty easy to pull track back up once I push it into the AMI. Gene

[beastranger]

Marc I just spike my cork to the foam using 1/2 inch flat top brads avalible at the hardware store. Save the Atlas spikes for the track and get a couple packages as you will run out. Here is how I do it. Split the cork and spike one half about every four or five inches. Take the second piece and cut it in half so the ends are staggered and lay the square edge up against the other one and spike next to the spikes in the other piece. When I lay the track I set it just slighty off center so the spikes go through the cork and not the center seam, about a 32nd of an inch. Got a problem, pull the spikes and move it! I figure when I glue the ballast it will glue the cork as well. See if the LHS has a spike pusher, great tool. Looks like an awl with a flat tip. It has a magnet to hold the spike in the hollow tip that slids up as you push the spike in. Punk

[ginzokid]

Marc is about to hear 100 different ways to lay cork and track. Well, maybe not 100, but a few. I draw my centerline on the bench work. Split the cork and glue down one half with either yellow carpenter glue (Titebond or Elmers) abutting the centerline. I hold this cork in place with push pins. I do not use nails in the cork at all. Next I do the other side the same way, staggering the joints. Glue, no nails. The push pins can be pulled after about an hour. Don't just yank them up. Place your fingers on either side of the pin to hold the cork down and twist the pins out. The next trick is to lightly sand the beveled edges of the cork where it is rough from the split. This will help the ballast shoulders take a more natural form. For the flex track, I use Elmers white glue. I put a bead on the cork in a wavy pattern, then gently smooth it out with my soon to be very sticky index finger to take down the lumps. The track is then laid into this glue and held in place with the track nails. I, unlike Doug, do use the centerline of the cork as the center of the track. The nails are just a temporary hold down and can actually be removed later if you choose. It is the glue that holds the track down. In other threads we have discussed the joining of the flex track at curves, super-elevation, etc. so I won't go into it here. Once ballasted, this track is going nowhere. Just remember this. Do what ever works for you. As long as the cork is level, sanding does help, your track should go down smoothly. B-)

[trmwf]

and now the third version....I also glue my cork to the roadbed in the same manner as Pete but then I just use N scale track spikes to hold the track in place. They are slightly noticeable if you really look but tend to disappear once the ballast is applied. I do it this way instead of glueing the track as it gives me the flexibility to tweek and adjust as necessary. prof

[janesew]

I glue the cork as well but use a water based contact cement. It will hold the cork in place with a light tackiness until you are happy with placement. You then use a roller (brayer) and smooth it down to really stick. I don't glue down the track if I am laying the cork over plywood (or homosote, which I don't use myself) but will use the same water based contact cement if I am laying track on cork over foam as I don't trust the nails in foam. I use the nails in the ply. Slow, careful, steady... it's the foundation to everything else on the layout (I could say the same with the benchwork.) I too use the centerline as it is the ply that holds the nails in for me, not the cork. When you use the wet method for ballast it actually swells the wood a little and even rusts the nail slightly which helps hold it in place... or so I've been told. Remember to leave slight "expansion" gaps in the track every so many feet for the temperature and humidity changes. Boy this topic could go on forever! Fred

[trmwf]

One of the reasons I do not glue the track to the cork is that it always seems that there are small imperfections in the sub roadbed such as a small dip where two pieces of plywood butt against each other or where the blue foam has slightly rounded edges. I'm sure you know what I mean. When you glue the cork down it follows these imperfections. When you lay a piece of flex track across these little dips the track will kind of hang in the air eliminating the dip. If you glue it down it will have to follow. When spiking I look for these areas and am careful to just let the rail "hang" across the dip for a smoother, dipless track profile. When ballasting, the ballast will fill in the dip and support the track. prof

[janesew]

Good tip Mike. F

[ginzokid]

Mike, I too actually let the track ride over dips. The part I forgot to mention was that after gluing with the white glue and nailing it down, I run for about a month before I even think about ballasting. This lets me see if I have to tweak the rails anywhere, and the white glue is not so permanent really, therefore the track is easy to move if necessary. Again, the ballast and glue mix, which does rust the nails, are really what holds the track in place in the end. As far as expansion joints, I usually rely on the plastic rail joiners at the turnouts and blocks to act as the moveable joints. I solder all my other joints. B-)

[beastranger]

So there you have it, the experts have spoken! We all have our way of "doing track". If you have a set in stone track plan, go ahead and glue everything "tight and right". If you are like me and doing "freelance" wait until you know it's really where you want it. I haven't had any trouble with track moving (yet) on the foam, except when the cat yanked it up and a little trouble with expanding on my old layout. Now I allow for this. Punk

[dl85vette]

I tape my cork down first and tack the track down too. If laid on foam then I tack the cork down instead and tack the track again. I then try running a loco on the section to make sure it works (curves/inclines) I also will push an assortment of different length cars with a finger to see how it runs thru a curve,checking for decoupling,binding or having the center section ride too far inboard (sign of a tight curve,doesn't look realistic to me) I also will push the car(s) fast enuf so they coast thru the curve(s) and see if they coast freely thru it or start to bind. I then will adjust the easement(s) as necessary. I find there is the 'textbook' method of laying track and then there is one's own method that seems to work also. Once everything works I mark the cork edges and start gluing it down with PL300 on foam/wood. The track is glued (PL300) on foam and nailed on wood. Dave *putting trust into my R/C 73'bulkhead centerbeam and Con-Cor autoracks with MTL trucks. They haven't failed me yet testing curves. **shutting up now as this is flogging the horse. REMEMBER...RRing is supposed to be fun.

[ginzokid]

One more thought. Flex track really is flexible enough to tie in knots. I recommend a double Windsor knot for RR meets. B-)

[untabubba]

Gene, Rather than mess with the hair dryer, I switched to using a wallpaper seam roller. I just found the hair dryer, with the wire and all to be a bother. I place the track and press it enough to make it stick. Then I check the alignment, and roll the rails gently, but firmly. This seems to work pretty well as I haven't had any track "release"......yet! WOW! I guess I better stop at the LHS and pick up a piece of cork so I can visualize what you all are talking about. It sounds like I have to cut this in half and "reverse" the halves, if I understand this part properly... "The next trick is to lightly sand the beveled edges of the cork where it is rough from the split." I think I understand staggering the seams, but why are we cutting the cork in half to begin with? Marc

[ginzokid]

Why? To get a tapered shoulder on each side of the track. The cork is precut almost all the way through on an angle. Where you rip it apart leaves a rough edge that needs sanding. B-)