Securing Down Fastrack

I was in the same boat.  Fastrack does not move around much so you have two options as I see it:

 

1) Do nothing and let it float.

 

2) Use some white glue along the edge of the roadbed and lightly glue it down.

 

I did the latter along with some light ballasting with excellent results.

Hello EZ solution. Ike holes through the foam and secure the track with zip ties. It works, it's cheap and you can rearrange the track layout a lot of work. Keep Smilin' Elguy

That's "poke" holes through the foam.... Sorry for the typo, Elguy

I would suggest 1) no glue,  2) just ty-wraps thru holes.

 

Like this:

 

 

 

You can find long, skinny ty wraps that will go thru Fastrack holes with no additional drilling.

 

All you see is a 1/16" x 1/16" square on the track.  Gray ty wraps are available... I use black.

 

Ed

So, I guess the liquid nails is overkill?  I intend to use some ballast on the sides of the track anyway. 

I would suggest no tie wraps.  They don't look very nice on top of your track and also transfer sound through the layout.  Not a good idea with Fastrack.

 

I stand by my recommendations.

I like the tie-wrap idea using gray wraps.  If you keep them loose and use the melt the head idea, they'd probably be less obvious than most other fastening methods.

Why not screw the fastrack into the foam?  A dab of gray paint and the screws would be next to invisible, and since you're not screwing into the plywood, noise'd be kept to a minimum.

Thank you everyone for some excelent advice.  I have begun to put balast on my track and have found that the balast is securing the track without using liquid nails, zip ties, or screws. Thanks again!

I used 1/2 inch thick charcoal grey/black foam (similar to TrackBed by Woodland Scenics) under my Fastrack and put a bead of foam glue under the outside edges of the foam where it glued to the green fabric over my plywood and then a bead of foam glue under each outside edge of the Fastrack and it glued the track to the foam just perfect. I just drill holes up through the plywood and slice the foam with an X-Acto knife to run wires up to the track It's so quiet that I can run my trains and my wife can watch TV 6 feet away and the trains don't bother her one bit running. In fact I can still hear her and the TV without turning up the volume on either one! Sometimes not sure if that's a good thing or not but the living room is the only place I have for a layout. It up against 3 walls 4'8"deep by 8'6" wide with a 6 foot wide "L" addition by 3'8" deep, just enough to do an 180 degree turn with O-36 Fastrack. Building a second level for it and putting a trolley run along the walls. We'll see how it all turns out someday.

Sincerely, Gary P

Try double sided carpet tape. I use it on my s scale switching layout. It holds the track directly to the plywood with a fierce grip. But if I need to pull it up it will come loose.