Temp Christmas Layout Lionel fastrack problem

Gunrunner John suggested and I agree that using small binder clips works good.  I use them with Fastrack on carpet and hardwood.  Do a search for binder clips on OGR. He shows what the clip is on ebay.

Thank you Sr  I most definitely will and I will update you.  you can see the layout on Lowes2win on utube  it's come along way since the beginning. I now have a MTH BNSF Genset triple stack short haul diesel which I really like. I have the PENNSYLVANIA 4-6-0 Starter set steam engine in the shop. I hope to get it back before Christmas .  New steam engines are extremely expensive .   I live in fox lake ILowes2win@aol.com IL  and early this simmer on my way to church I was surprised  to see the 764 Nickel Plate Road Berkshire 4-8-4 like used in the Polar Express. what a magnificent living breathing cast iron giant . it was my favorite engine some day I will get in a mth version.  I took many pictures. it was a site to see.

The little binder clips that John recommends work well.  You can get them at Walmart or I bought mine from Meijers here in IL since Walmart was out of them at the time.  I had bend the clips a little bit in order for them not to spring back open.  

Look for fastrack clips on the traditional blog, Gunrunnerjohn has a picture and numbers, as GRJ commented use the smaller clips

Brent

I went and bought 2 box's of the mini clip binders at Walmart yesterday and experimented with the and I'm thrilled.  I bumped It up one better. I put one on each outer corner that's on the road bed angle of the fast track and it actually raises the road bed about a quarter inch and if you leave the squeeze handles flipped out it raises it almost a half inch on each piece of track. the advantage of the raised road bed on a temp layout is after laying the track you have wiggle room to pass wires thru and under the tracks and on the carpet it acts like a stabilizer to keep the track from shifting and falls into the carpet and seems to give the track a better level foundation and carpet which is somewhat soft and the track lifts and lowers when heavy trains pass over it.  this seems to cushion that also and it also double locks each piece of track and if you have to access the track the clips are on both outer edges and much easier to remove for track work.  also the clips touch no metal parts on the middle power rail when the clip handles are flipped down. I noticed they were touching metal to metal when the clips are used in the center to join to pieces and very likely does no harm but I feel better with no metal to metal contact so there are no short issues later that would be very hard to find since each joined track would have one.  I also noticed 2 clips seems stronger and less likely to pop off as I have found in the past using just one in the middle .  the greatest thing of all though is the raised road bed. it also will make it much easier to stuff cotton floor cover under the track and much less chance of cotton getting in the wheels of the engines and wheel trucks which in the past was a issue with the track right on the carpet and stuffing the cotton snow flooring under it which also would have a tendency to make the road bed uneven in spots. some higher some lower. it's a all around win win with these mini binder clips. thank you for all your reply guys and I hope my elaborating on the expand use of the clips to help others has contributed to others success in temporary fastrak O scale layouts in the future. thankfull for this forum and all the helpful tips and people.

Have a wonderful  day

God Bless  

David

I will post pictures later showing exactly what I explained. in the past my mistake was I didn't use the mini clips.  they look like they were mentioned for fastrack . They fit very well and temp lock the track very well too   

What did Lionel change and why and when did they change it? When introduced, one of the selling points what that you could take an assembled 40x60 loop of fastrack, lift it and hang it on a door hook without it coming apart. 

FT has always had a tendency to come part when used on carpet, the constant up and down as trains go over it on a thicker carpet will cause it to walk apart.  It has to do with the pile of the carpet.  I don't see it happen on hard floors (Wood and tile.) or commercial type carpet.  To me it was never really a big deal as before every operating session on carpet I check all the track.

Actually, Fastrack has gone down in quality, as have many other things, over the years.  The earlier stuff was more robust.

I have 2 independent tracks one inside the other 2 run  trains and on the carpet in have they do tend to come apart especially after connecting and disconnecting every year. once I have them down if they come disconnected it's hard to access them to reconnect them because of all the lighted buildings and accessories and the tree overhanging a good part of both lines of track. for me it's just much easier than trying to tip toe back under the tree to snap back in a corner or straight that has come undone. I'm a large man so one wrong step and I could take out a whole building and other extensive collateral damage. Last year I screwed it to the floor but it was a lot of work and some tracks were uneven higher/lower  and the cotton would bind up in the screws when installing or Uninstalling the track. For a simple quick oval with new track it works perfectly but for a more modified layout on carpet with many turns it for me did not work well at all. When the track is new it works great but I don't think it's meant to be connected and disconnected repeatedly.   I hope this explains why I asked about a way of securing a temp layout better.   

Last year layout before I added all the structures and lighting

Here are some creative ways to use the mini clips and notice not having one clip in the middle there is no metal to metal if that even makes a difference .  thank you John for your help and all others who replyed. Me and my Grandson thank you.

Dave