Gargraves to cork to homasote attachment

I’ve always used brads. Just long enough to penetrate into the homesote. No issues. But once I was satisfied with how everything looked and ran. I glued down ballast which insured nothing would move.
I’ve seen many layouts with drywall type screws between the ties. No drilling of ties. If you were planning to ballast this would be a good way to go. Ballast around them. When the glue sets. Screws are easily removed and  then you can ballast where they resided. No screw holes in the ties.

I just watched a Jim Barrett video on this subject on the new OGR You Tube channel and he makes a point in the video to use a #4 x 3/4" screw that only goes as deep as the tie+cork+homosote, not into the plywood.  So maybe he made a newer version of the video you watched(?).  Might be worth checking it out just to see if that's the case.  It's here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taS2W5NTgJ4&t=12s

That may be my mistake, it looked like those screws were long enough to go into the plywood as well.  Same video.

I did not use Homasote on the O gauge portion of the current layout. I glued my foam roadbed to the plywood sub-roadbed with white glue. I then fastened my track with a pin nailer from Harbor Freight. Pin nails are small headless nails. You can hardly see them once they are installed and they held the track quite well. If you need to remove a section of installed track, all you have to do is slide a putty knife under the ties and gently pry up.

https://www.harborfreight.com/...in-nailer-64143.html

I screwed the track through the foam roadbed into the Homasote with 7/8" #2 screws.  It worked great, and the Homasote holds quite well, and no noise issues.

I attached the Homasote to the plywood using short drywall screws and then primer-painted the Homosote.  I attached roadbed (foam, Woodland, and some cork) to the Homasote using Elmer's white glue, temporarily holding the roadbed in place with push-pins until the glue dried.  GG track was fastened in place with GG screws through the ties, roadbed, and Homasote (pilot hole drilled first).  Now that it's ballasted, I can remove the screws if I so choose.  I considered gluing the Homasote but worried that doing so would complicate any future modifications.

On the mainline, homasote screwed into plywood/OSB, with homasote roadbed wood glued to the homasote. Track screwed into roadbed only. In yards, skipped the roadbed. Track screwed to homasote.

This is what I did, but interested to read about those who take the screws out after ballast is glued. This intrigues me.

Interested to read about silicone caulk, which I would guess would be quieter than glue, but what I did is quiet enough for me. I also like that it is noisier over the bridge, like the real thing.

I used liquid nails to attach my homasote to my plywood.   Weighted it down overnight with no issues.   Then predrilled small holes in the ties and through the same rubberish track underlayment you see in the above pics from others.   Then put a small 7/8" screw from Lowes about 1 every 4 sections.  Except in curves where I did one screw each other curved section.  The screws go right through my Gargraves wood ties without splitting, and bite into the homasote very well.  Been great for 2 years now.  I plan to dab the screw heads with paint when done... done... ha ha.

Watch this video from the OGR YouTube channel. Then go there and subscribe.

I appreciate all the replies.  I found the caulk to work well but I think the techniques used here are better.  I don't think it was any quieter than other methods.  It was a little trickier for me to avoid having to go into the plywood when trying to get the joints in curves smooth with the flex track.  But using longer screws then backing them out once the adhesive dries may solve that problem. 

Thanks again!

I screwed the Homasote to the plywood base, no noise problems at all.