I’m building a new Christmas train layout and I’m running out of time. My old layout had ¾ inch plywood but I can’t pick it up anymore so I decided to make a new one out of foam board with a 2x3 wood frame. The old one was incredibly noisy and I’m hoping that this new one will be quieter with three trains.
Anyway I’m thinking of just letting it set on top of the foam without screws or nails. Then I’ll think about fastening it down after Christmas when I have more time.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Some type of pin put in a few of the holes might be a good idea so it will not shift if bumped, my old HO set up got away with out being nailed down around the tree, though they were far lighter than O gauge.
Not sure how they'll fit with Fastrak but on my tubular track of foam I've used pannel nails to hold things until balasting etc. They are ringed and push in with a finger, not real sturdy but should hold for the holidays.
Scotie
The track won't come apart but it could shift. Try tacking it in a few spots with a drop of white glue or clear silicon. Either one will come off with very little effort after.
I didn't with my fastrack std gauge under the tree. It stays in place without anything holding it down.
I'd pin it here, and there if in enough of a hurry, and/or it isn't ready for "permanent" placement. It should be enough to keep it planted in a mild "earthquake" scenario.
On hardwood my Moms "walks", but not like tube track did.
Sleeper,
Johnny B I always screw down my track on every layout I build, no matter what I build on, no carpet centrals for me. FasTrack stays together pretty darn well, however I still screw it down so nothing unexpected can happen.
PCRR/Dave
Get some double sided carpet tape, it will hold the track in place and it's temporary.
Happy Thanksgiving, Steve, Lady and Tex
Thanks guys, Sorry to take so long getting back but some neighbors stopped by to see how the track is coming along.
Anyway I tried using nails directly into foam years ago and they would wiggle up out of the foam to hit the axles. A couple of years ago I bought long screw that went all the way through the foam into the plywood, but this year there isn’t any plywood under the foam.
One year I laid down the Fastrack right after painting and the track stuck to the paint. I may do that again
Oh, yeah normally tracks are glues down to foam, not screwed or nailed. Just remembered that was how the track was attached in the Cripple creek railroad book. Not sure what you should use, rubber cement comes to mind. I don't know if it would eat track. Someone out there has to know, since I assume you want it more temporary than permanent. There is that glue,calk like stuff I have run into in computers to hold cables in place, only problem is the smell. I unfortunately don;t know what it is.
As long as you are using Lionel Fastrack it is going to be really noisy. You can reduce it a bit by not having it sit on foam board or wood. Lay a carpet underlay down or carpet or anything to keep the plastic base of the track off the hard surface. It should stay in place then. If you use screws or nails it will transmit the sound even more.
Even running on carpet deep pile Grandma says is it raining no grandma it is just training. When you run on Fastrack there will be noise no mater what.
If you use regular 0-27 or any other brand of track on the market with something soft underneath you will significantly reduce the noise over Fastrak!
I don’t know what to use because I know that some glues do react to the foam although there is glue especially for foam, but it doesn’t stick to the plastic track. I originally planned on using small ¼” blocks of wood with a dab of liquid nail on it underneath. I was going to push the screw down through the foam and have the wife push the wood up into the screw as I was turning it from above.
Talking about smell, one thing I never noticed before while working with the rigid foil covered insulation is that it stinks with the foil removed. I like the texture because it’s more like actual soil, but when using a hot knife to cut it fills the house with a rotten fish smell.
I’m going to seal it tomorrow with primer and then paint it high gloss white to look like snow. I’m hoping to get the track down into place before the paint dries so it will stick. It’s only going to be the main line through the town that will not be screwed down. The other two line are already screwed down to wood.
As long as you are using Lionel Fastrack it is going to be really noisy. You can reduce it a bit by not having it sit on foam board or wood. Lay a carpet underlay down or carpet or anything to keep the plastic base of the track off the hard surface. It should stay in place then. If you use screws or nails it will transmit the sound even more.
Even running on carpet deep pile Grandma says is it raining no grandma it is just training. When you run on Fastrack there will be noise no mater what.
If you use regular 0-27 or any other brand of track on the market with something soft underneath you will significantly reduce the noise over Fastrak!
Thanks, back in 2011 I did an experiment to cut the noise and cut out the rigid foam and replaced it with soft foam. It did cut the sound, but was a disaster for mounting the track. This year I have carpet on the floor under the layout to adsorb the sound instead of isolating it..
I had a YouTube video of my experiment but must have deleted it. The video didn't accurately portray the sound reduction because the camera had auto sound volume and adjusted for the sound.
I think it was liquid nails, I don't have the book on hand at the moment. Any none solvent glue should be fine, since plastic sticks to just about any glue from the vacuum seal even Elmers white glue would work, as for with metal I don't know. Elmers should work with fastrack now that I think about it, just keep it away from the metal it will corrode it.
Oh as for using screws, using a nut and bolt wit ha washer sounds much safer to me.
Although FasTrack is designed to sit on just about any surface - rug, plywood, foam etc. it will tend to shift under the weight of trains as another forum member pointed out. Any pins or nails would have to go through the foam board to some type of base such as plywood underneath. That said, the more I work with foam board as a layout base the more I really like it.
To stay with just foam board you would have to consider some type of glue. The good news is that because FasTrack snaps together relatively well, you don't need to glue many pieces. You can probably secure an entire oval with just four key pieces - I recommend curves since they'll receive the brunt of the stress and vibration.
To keep things flexible, you best choice of an adhesive would actually be a glue gun since the resulting glue can usually be peeled off in worst case heated back up to soften it. To keep from melting the foam with the hot glue you'll need a low heat glue gun. You can also apply the glue to the track and wait a moment for it too cool a bit before pressing down on the foam.
A good primer coat will stop most adhesive to foam reactions. If the adhesive can't eat the primer, it never gets to touch the foam. Laytex caulk should be safe.
Rubber cement does normally carries distillates that foam wouldn't like.
Rather than run screws all the way through. Shorter machine screws and nuts could be used to create firm pegs on the track bottom, then pressed into the foam. Without the sway of "nail" pins, and ability to "sprout", it would stop shifting, and do less shoulder to hole damage.
4" cable ties, zip ties, etc., have small heads that will sit in the screw counter-sink in the track.
Push a hole through the foam with a punch or nail, push the cable tie through from the top then use a second on the bottom to secure it.
The curve will move more than the straights. Put one in every other track and then add where needed.
The relief work looks nice. Did you cut or use a router for the set-in tubular track.
The foam is only going to do a little for the noise. It will be better than wood.
Get some double sided carpet tape, it will hold the track in place and it's temporary.
Bingo!
Pete
Lot of ideas here! I don’t think I’ve ever seen “double-sided carpet tape”, but I’m going to check it out.
I do have hot glue and have used it to fasten up wires. I think I’ll experiment a little with the foam. The one thing I don’t want to use is caulking adhesive along the entire length because I have tried that years ago and it looks bad after a while from discoloring and is a pain to remove.
Also, it is not fun climbing under the layout with only 11” clearance so if I can avoid that I will. Fortunately I can reach most of the track from the side except for about 4 ft in the middle
I would use a little hot glue here and there just to keep things in place. It should not melt the foam.
How long does it take to put in say - 12 - #4 X 5/8" screws into foamboard? Less time than it took to post on the forum a half a dozen times.
How long does it take to put in say - 12 - #4 X 5/8" screws into foamboard? Less time than it took to post on the forum a half a dozen times.
Well if they are all going to work their out after I have all the houses in, then it would not be worth the time saved at all.
Hot Glue Gun. cheap and great to use when using foamboard for scenery as well.
Peels off easily(depends on the glue sticks?) I have seen clear and an off white colored glue sticks. You can pick this up at Micheals.
Al
I'd go and get a 1/2" deep white carpet remnant cut to size and place that over the foam. The fastrack will stay right in place just like my carpet central.
I'll have to change my vote to the hot glue gun. having 3 votes in for that already(jbull,NYCJoe& albert).
Simple, will hold the track, you can do it from the top, can be removed. Besides, you'll use it for other projects.
I just fastened on my old shelf around the new layout for my outside track and noticed that I maybe able to at least catch a little of the wood frame underneath. My old layout had 2” foam and the screws are probably way too long for the new 1 ½” foam and I will have to buy some more but the more that I think about it the more I like the hot glue. I have not painted it yet because I’m still working out the house placement and I need to cut in a small stream and a road into the foam.
) came around the bend going at a high speed, it flew off my table. So yes, I would screw it down. ) came around the bend going at a high speed, it flew off my table. So yes, I would screw it down.Thanks Keith, when I first put up a Lionel train set years ago I had a locomotive jump the track and put a hole in my wall. My nephew though it would be funny to see how fast it went and ran it full speed around a corner, but the track was screwed down at the time.
I’m going to have a house full of kids this Christmas that have never run trains before so I expect that there will be some mishaps so you’re right, I probably should take some extra precautions.
) came around the bend going at a high speed, it flew off my table. So yes, I would screw it down.Thanks Keith, when I first put up a Lionel train set years ago I had a locomotive jump the track and put a hole in my wall. My nephew though it would be funny to see how fast it went and ran it full speed around a corner, but the track was screwed down at the time.
I’m going to have a house full of kids this Christmas that have never run trains before so I expect that there will be some mishaps so you’re right, I probably should take some extra precautions.
What I use is Rubbermaid foam plastic shelf liner. It looks like a small quilt pattern. Just put a small square of it, about 3x2", at every place the 2 sections meet. It will keep the track from sliding on a smooth surface.
) came around the bend going at a high speed, it flew off my table. So yes, I would screw it down.Thanks Keith, when I first put up a Lionel train set years ago I had a locomotive jump the track and put a hole in my wall. My nephew though it would be funny to see how fast it went and ran it full speed around a corner, but the track was screwed down at the time.
I’m going to have a house full of kids this Christmas that have never run trains before so I expect that there will be some mishaps so you’re right, I probably should take some extra precautions.
You mean like this? LOL I had to do this to keep my grandson out of the train display
Or because it does not involve the use of power tools.
Normally I wouldn't worry - but you have it close to the edge. A screw or two wouldn't hurt and it is easy to do.
We build Christmas layouts 4' x 4', & 4' x 6' for our store customers using 7/16" plywood w/ a 1//2 " foam board attached to the plywood w/ paneling adhesive. Atlas track screws have always held our Lionel FasTrack to the foam board, but using only slight pressure to turn the screw into the foam board. "Patience" and a light hand is required. I do use a screw in every hole, and this method is sufficient to carry the layout and store on it's side. "The Old Man".
) came around the bend going at a high speed, it flew off my table. So yes, I would screw it down.Thanks Keith, when I first put up a Lionel train set years ago I had a locomotive jump the track and put a hole in my wall. My nephew though it would be funny to see how fast it went and ran it full speed around a corner, but the track was screwed down at the time.
I’m going to have a house full of kids this Christmas that have never run trains before so I expect that there will be some mishaps so you’re right, I probably should take some extra precautions.
You mean like this? LOL I had to do this to keep my grandson out of the train display
TRY RUBBER GLUE ! place glue on ballast area then sprinkle with white glitter .
it should hide the glue .
I will using this method myself on my new living room layout for Christmas !
Oh yes, I can see it now Keith. I'm sure Id trip over that and end up right in the middle of my trains. LOL
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
