Cork Roadbed

We used wood glue. Holds very well. 

Eric Seigel of Erics Trains on youtube has a great how-to video posted on this subject.

I have a heavy maple laminate plywood base and have been using staples. Easy to put in and get back out when I screw up. Staples are 3/8 Arrow JT-21 and the staple gun is Arrow JT-21M. Apparently that's important. Friend of mine tried a heavier gun that hits the staple too hard and shoots it too deep into the cork. With mine, the staple top ends up just flush with or just below the cork top surface. I have heard that glue gives quieter performance but I really love the sound of Atlas track + cork + maple laminate plywood especially over the switches.

Scott

I have used an air powered brad nailer.  Adjust the air pressurtoto just enough pressure to not drive the brad through the roadbed.  I did 500 feet of atlas track with cork/rubber base and the souNd level is very low.

Dick

I have Atlas O track and secured the track to the cork using the Atlas O track screws.  Never a problem. 

i have employed a similar method sans the air hammer.  small nails/ brads are good enough to hold the cork in place until the track is laid down with screws.  removing it later leaves no mess or remnants as with glue, much of the cork becoming reusable.

Nick - I've gone through most of his tutorials but can't find the one on cork roadbed.  If you run across it let me know.

Paul

Scott - I've used staples in the past and this sounds like the best way to go.  Don't like glue because of the mess when pulling it up if you need to.  Thanx for your help.

Paul

If you're worried about gluing down the cork, I guess you won't be ballasting the track? 

Paul,I couldn't get the link to paste.I am still getting used to using my new Mac Pro.Anyway,go to youtube and type in O scale 3-rail track tutorial.Eric has a 3 part video that is VERY good.It shows him using a foam roadbed but he says this method will work with any type of roadbed.Good luck man.

Nick - I've been watching Eric's videos for some time now.  He's really quite informative and helpful - I'll type in what you said and check out his tutorial on cork roadbed.  BTW I have a Mac Book Pro also and just downloaded "Maverick" - I'm told one of the advantages of it is that it is supposed to save your battery.  The drawback was that my Railmodeller software wasn't supported by "Maverick".  I contacted Railmodeller and they sent me a "fix" for it.  All's well now.  

Paul

Same thought I had. It's not gold, it's just cork....Just glue it down using wood glue or any of the several adhesive caulks available in the big box stores.

Staples just fit my comfort level a little better than glue. It's probably some form of compulsive behavior but I will fret over the appearance of the road bed if some part of it doesn't look quite right. Kind of silly because you can't see the detail anymore after the track is on it and you're five feet away but that's how I roll.

S

I've been really happy using clear silicone caulk from the local hardware store. Goes down nice, sticks, and can easily be pealed away if the cork needs reused down the road. You may need to hold the curved radius in place overnight with a few screws, but they can be removed once the caulk sets.

Some of us do like the look of just the raw track on the raw cork.  I did it years ago when I had a N scale layout.  But I did just use white glue to glue everything down.  Then I was young and had some extra cash if I needed to get new cork.  Now that I'm older and have kids, I'd also want to be able to reuse the cork instead of get new cork if I changed things up.

Throw some pics at us when you get some track down.

The air finish nailer or stapler sounds good. Lay out all the cork and go to town. Test a spot first to get the adjustments right. Manual anything takes a lot of time. You need trains running, not exercise.

Why make a simple task so complicated?  I've been using this for years W/O any problems.

Maybe I'm missing something here.  The track needs to be secured to the cork so why is anyone gluing the cork to the homosote when the track still needs to be screwed to the homosote?  As I stated earlier in this thread, I use Atlas O track screws to secure the track to the cork.  The screws are long enough to go through the track and the cork roadbed into the homosote.  If you are going to apply ballast, the adhesive in the ballast mix adds to the holding power.  If you don't ballast the track the screws are enough to hold the track and the roadbed to the homosote.  To help hold the cork temporarily to the homosote I use Woodland Scenics Foam Nails #ST1432 which are 2" long and are inserted at an angle to hold the cork to the homosote temporarily.  Once the track and cork roadbed is secured with the track screws, the Foam Nails can then be removed and used again and again as needed.  Maybe there is concern that the screws will not hold in the homosote.  Take my advice. The Atlas O track screws are 3/4" long and will hold in the homosote.  I used 1/2" homosote on my layout and the Atlas O track is approximately 1/4".  Beneath the homosote is 1/2" plywood which is secured to the homosote with Liquid nails .  Five years and no track problems.

M.D. - You're not missing anything - everyone has a different way of doing things - I use 1/2" plywood with 1/2" homosote too but I just use sheetrock screws to secure the homosote to the plywood.  Today I laid track on a good part of my layout but I decided to secure the cork with staples - it was easy, quick and no mess.  

Harleylito- Glad the staples worked for you.