cork road bed

roch

Member
I have no idea how it happened, but after soldering most of my track I decided to lay it back out on the roadbed and give it a run.
The other day it all lined up perfect and the bed is glued.
Now almost none of it lines up and I am going to have to redo the cork. :eek:
Any sugestions? It is glued with white Elmers type glue.

:wave:
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
I did some cork roadbed tests . I glued some pieces of cork roadbed on some pink extruded styrene base using yellow carpenter glue and DAP caulking.
I would guess that using white Elmer glue would more or less the same result as the yellow carpenter glue.
Just lift the cork roadbed and it should separate from the base.

Jacques
 
N

nachoman

Elmers will soften if soaked with water.

But...I am curious as to why your track was not in place when you soldered it. I am asuming you are using sectional track. Normally, people tack or glue ther track in place, and solder with the track securely fastened to the layout. If you are using flextrack, the normal procedure is to solder the next piece on and then fasten it down, one piece at a time.

If you are using sectional track, my guess is that the allignment between each section moved slightly between the time you originally had it layed out and the time you soldered it. Even very small gaps between rails can propogate to signifigant offests over distances.

Rather than move the roadbed, you can reheat and adjust the solder joints.

Kevin
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
Yes, Elmers glue softens with water, but how will you inject that water between the cork roadbed and the plywood or the pink styrene ?

My 1st layout is small ( 25" X 36" ) and I soldered all the sectional tracks first. Then I temporarily fixed the tracks on the pink styrene using push pins so I could mark the track center and use those marks to glue the cork roadbed on the pink styrene.
Now I agree with you that for a bigger layout the track is glued in place then soldered.
A "compromise" I used is first to create some track "submodules by soldering 3 or 4 track ( or turnout ) sections together then assembling those submodules together.

Jacques
 

roch

Member
I am using sectional and flexitrack.
It is a 4'x4' layout that is too low for me to bend over it and solder without trashing my back so I have taking it apart and soldering it on a TV tray. I guess that the heat cause the track to change a little. :confused:
I did manage to bend it back to almost perfect center with the cork thank God. I am soo glad I didn't lose my cool and start ripping to cork off. I chilled out with a beer and a book than fixed it. :mrgreen:
The train is running now and all I really thing I need to do is a bunch of filing where the solder aint perfect.
Now I can get back to making trees again.

Thank you for the advice as I may need it in the future. :wave:
 

roch

Member
Just to let every one know I am new to this hobby and no matter how much I read and pics I see I am still clueless. wall1sign1

I do learn little by little but am a slow learner and do not spend all of my time working on my layout because I am kinda like a house wife even though I am not. Long story. wall1
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
Take your time Roch, work at your own pace, there is no modeling clock ticking.
I started my 25" by 36" mini layout more than 1 year ago and it's far from being finished.
It's a hobby, enjoy it, have fun. It shouldn't be a source of stress ( well at least most of the time )

Jacques
 

roch

Member
Take your time Roch, work at your own pace, there is no modeling clock ticking.
I started my 25" by 36" mini layout more than 1 year ago and it's far from being finished.
It's a hobby, enjoy it, have fun. It shouldn't be a source of stress ( well at least most of the time )

Jacques

Thank you Jacques,

I use this hobby to relieve stress, but some times it causes stress. And I keep hearing from others how they set up a killer layout in a short time, they must be pros.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
I think most of us have made mistakes. It is probably a part of the learning curve. As far as your concern about the speed others work at, don't worry about speed. #1 This is a hobby, work at a comfortable pace that allows you the most enjoyment of the hobby without putting extra stress or pressure on yourself. #2 We have people of all ages on this forum. Some are retired and can make their railroad a full time pursuit if they want to. Others are still working full time and have less time to devote to the hobby, and still others are having to work full time plus overtime. #3 Some people are able to work at a faster pace than others and still turn out good work.

As an illustration, a friend of mine is a general contractor, and I hired him to remodel my house. He is very meticulous, but that results in the work progressing slower than would be ideal. He has apologized for taking so long, but I have watched "Holms On Homes" on the Discovery Home channel, and the more I see of the night mares he deals with the better I like the slow meticulous way my friend works. As an example, he added on 4 feet to my dining room. The new sub floor is "dead on" plum in every direction. He installed a new floating floor over the sub floor and expected to install the new floor in 1 day start to finish. He noticed as he was checking out the old sub floor that there was 1 board running across the floor that was about 1/2 inch high. He removed that board and found that he had to install a thinner board in it's place and then run the sander over it to thin it a bit more. After that was done, he checked the floor and found another area that was 1/2 inch low. He ended up using spackle to build up the low spots and had to let it dry before he could put down the plastic moisture barrier. The result was that he ended up spending 3 days to do what he thought he could finish in one day. However, the new floor is dead on flat in every direction and absolutely free of any squeeks. I would trade a couple of days for quality anytime.

What I'm trying to say to you in a very long winded fashion is work at a pace that is comfortable for you. Don't worry about how long it takes to finish or even how long it takes to get trains running. Expect to make a few mistakes and need to tear things out and redo them. When model railroading ceases to be fun, take time out to do something else and then come back to it. Any time you run into what seems like an insurmountable problem, come to the gauge and ask questions. Over the years that I have been here I haven't seen any one ask a question that didn't receive a bunch of answers with one or more ways to fix the problem!
 
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