How to Master Track Laying on Modular Model Layouts

[Music] track laying will make or break a great railroad so in this tutorial on building a modular model railroad I'll step you through the process I used to get great track that will stand the test of time so sit back and watch as this model train layout starts to take shape when laying the track I try to start with the turnouts the track plan has been transferred from the computer to paper templates and then onto the plywood baseboard now it's just a matter of getting the turnouts lined up in the right spot and the rest should join up believe it or not but a must-have tool for track laying as a small mirror this lets me get the perfect view to help line up the turnouts with the track already laid in the distance once happy with the alignment I Mark the position of each turnout [Music] below each piece of track will be cork row bed roughly three millimeters thick a sheet of cork is used and each turnout is traced onto it this lets me get the odd shape of the turnout onto the cork so that it can be cut out and have it fit perfectly underneath the turnout it's only three millimeter thick cork so a standard pair of scissors should be more than enough to cut out the shape as needed you can see it aligns perfectly with the shape of the turnout as for scraps I try to keep what I can because it will be coming useful later when we're doing scenery to glue down the cork I'm using Gorilla wood glue but any type of wood glue should be fine the glue is spread so that it covers the entire bottom side of the cork its position so that it lines up with the turnout marks we drew earlier onto the plywood this step doesn't have to be too perfect close is good enough for the cork it's the track that we will want to be perfect once pressed down I add some weights on top as the glue dries now it's just a matter of repeating the process for the rest of the turnout pieces for these straight sections of track I'm using the amri three millimeter cork however trying to lay this on a curve straight out of the package is a bit of a challenge there is an easy fix though for curved pieces cutting it in half straight down the middle gives it just enough flexibility to bend around the curves it doesn't need to be perfectly centered but as close as you can by eye will be good enough just like the turnout cork pieces these sections are also glued down with wood glue once the glue is spread out the cork is lined up with the center line and pressed down the glue grabs quite fast so pressing down firmly should be just enough initially to hold the cork in place as we work around the curve however just to make sure that it doesn't move as the glue dries I pin the curve down with some push pins now we just need to line up the second piece of cork with the first one and do the same press it firmly to get it positioned and then once down pin the curve so that it doesn't move as the glue dries this is repeated all the way around the curve [Music] some pieces that converge onto a turnout may need a bit of trimming cork is similar in fashion to styrene and can be scored with a sharp knife and then broken away making it really easy to work with for jobs like this [Music] unlike the curves once this piece has glue applied and is pressed down onto the plywood we can simply Place some weights on it to hold it down as the glue dries [Music] with the cork down and secure the pins are removed but before we lay the track the entire surface of the cork is lightly sanded with a sanding block this removes any little bumps and unevenness in the cork that could possibly affect the track I focus more on areas where two different pieces of caulk meet making sure they are at the same height because the sections need to pull apart I also make sure to cut the cork along where each module joins all right with the cork down the turnouts are placed back and realigned this time marking their position onto the cork I take my time doing this making sure the track lines up perfectly as I can once in the correct spot and the position is marked I Center the points there's an over centering spring on these Pico code 75 turnouts so I need to hold it firmly with one hand while I use a mechanical pencil to press down through the small hole in the center of the throw bar this is where the switch machine will come through the baseboard and operate the turnout a hole for the Frog wire is also marked I used a seven millimeter drill bit for the switch machine hole although you could use a larger hole if you need a bit more room for the switch machine mechanism the hole for the Frog wire is basically just big enough so the wire can be threaded through where there's a cluster of turnouts close together I try to assemble them prior to fixing them down this makes it much easier to add the small sections of track between them like this piece that's less than four centimeters long the track I've decided to use here is Pico code 75. however these techniques work with just about any sort of track I should also mention that the turnouts are wide according to the instructions so that the Frog will be powered it simply involves removing a wire from the back of the turnout however I did make a small modification by soldering a wire from each closure rail to its Associated stock rail this just means that I'm not relying on point blade contact to carry the electrical signal through the closure Rail and I can paint the track points without needing to keep the inside clean the track is marked and cut using xeron track Cutters ensuring the flat edge of the cutter faces the section of track I intend to use even though the cut is quite clean I still find a bit of filing helps tidy up the edges I also cut a notch in the tire so there's room for the rail Joiner being careful not to cut my finger you'll need both insulated and regular rail joiners the insulated joiners are required so the turnout frog remains isolated from the other sections of track to fit the small section of track we'll need to trim some tires just the edges so that it will be able to slide forward we'll also need the throw bar to be trimmed down as well which is fine as I'm not using the sides to control it you can see here the clear insulated Joiner is used to isolate the Frog so there aren't any short circuits when we power the Frog later using a switch machine now with the cluster of turnouts assembled it can be positioned ready to be fixed down I'll mark the area where the throw bar is this needs to be able to move freely so I don't want any glue there just like the cork the track is fixed down with wood glue with the glue spread out evenly across the cork the track can be placed the track joiners can sometimes be a bit stiff so I recommend using pliers to push them onto the adjoining sections of track I really take my time doing this just making small adjustments and watching carefully it's easy to make a simple mistake like not attaching the track Joiner properly or misaligning the track the mirror is always close by when putting down track on satisfied the turnout is weighed down as the glue dries then one by one the rest of the turnouts are applied and glued down onto the layout the Frog wires hopefully line up so they can be poked down through the plywood ready to be wired up later now it's just a matter of connecting the turnouts with sections of Flex track each section is measured and marked with a texter track Cutters are used remembering to have the flat side of the cutter facing the section of track you intend to use after a quick file I tried using the Dremel to notch the tires so there was space for the joiners which worked okay but it was a little rough [Music] foreign because this piece runs over a join in the board I need to place it in position and then Mark out which tires I'll need to remove these ties will eventually be replaced with PCB tires with the rails soldered onto them the ties are easy enough to remove by cutting the webbing between the sections of the tires you plan to remove and then gently peeling that section away from the rail and just like the turnouts the glue is applied spread out and then the rail positioned you can see the insulator joiners can't slide all the way down one rail like the regular joiners can this meant I had to slide one insulator Joiner onto the Frog first and for the second one I needed to slide the rail back far enough to allow the opposite side insulated Joiner room to slide on it's a little bit hard to explain but hopefully the video shows it clearly enough whenever possible once a section of track is down especially over a complex set of points or crossovers I try to do a push test basically just push some Rolling Stock over the freshly laid section of track to check for obvious problems that can be fixed now rather than once the glue is dried an example where this might not be possible is on a corner to help the Flex track keep its shape around the corner I used push pins this meant I won't be able to do a push test prior to having the glue set this isn't usually a problem provided you didn't have any issues when using the any rail track planner however this is quite a short little s-band find when it comes to smaller items of Rolling Stock but not so fine for longer carriages when coupled together S Pen pulls the carriages to one side lifting the wheels off the track I could just limit the size of Rolling Stock on that particular siding but I knew it would always bother me so I had to fix it this is easy to do at this early stage I just used a sharp knife to cut through the glue freeing the track from the cork underneath the track is then repositioned to shallow out the s-bend coming off the turnout this time giving it a test before Printing and gluing it the excess cork on one side is cut away it can then be used on the other side under the tires gluing both the Cork and track down at the same time now for the 18 inch radius curves three pieces of Flex track I used to span the full circumference needed track joiners alone might be enough but given the tightness of the curve I decided not to just rely on the joiners alone but also solder them to ensure they don't develop a kink over time the rail is heated enough so the solder flows into the rail Joiner making it permanent I only applied solder on the outside of each rail after a test fit to make sure it can span the area needed I applied the glue spread it out and then fit the track it can be a bit of a challenge laying such a large single piece of track especially in a tight space like this but as long as you take your time it should work out just right once down weights are used to hold the track these long cars only just get around the tight curve I might need to do some minor modifications to get them running a bit smoother however all my locomotives can make the turn quite easily the Tizer will join the modules are DCC Concepts pre-edge sleepers they're just a touch too thin and sit just a little bit too low under the rail that's easy enough to fix by adding some spaces this is 0.25 by 2 millimeter styrene strip the strips once cut to size are super glued to the base of each sleeper to help this styrene stick better I lightly sand the bottom of each sleeper first any type of super glue should work okay but I found the gel super glue tends to give a better result now it's a much better fit the sleepers are also a little bit too thick so using a belt sander I sand each sleeper so that it matches the width of the sleepers on the code 75 track that I'm using to position the sleepers I use the same gel Super Glue you need to be quick as it sets quite fast I've marked the spot for each sleeper so positioning them accurately should be pretty straightforward once the slippers are positioned I go around each sleeper with a liberal amount of thin super glue this glue will flow in and around and under the sleepers and also penetrate into the cork a little creating a really solid connection that should remain aligned when the modules are disconnected and reconnected over time once the glue is dried we can start soldering this is where I ran into another problem as I was heating up the rail I was keeping the heat on for a long time soldering multiple pads at the same time this caused the rail to expand and because I had no expansion gaps in the rail it warped and buckled it's only Tiny But if you show the video frame back and forward a few times you can see the rail move inwards a small amount so much so that the nmra track gauge wouldn't fit again this was easy enough to fix given that I found it early I just applied pressure to the rail reheated it to Mount the solder and pushed it back into position so that it was engaged again to help prevent this from happening again I used some tweezers as a heat sink and just soldered one pad at a time before I moved on I just double checked that it was all fine excess solder can be filed away however once the track is painted and weathered you won't even notice the solder joint the track warping also made me realize a future problem I'm laying this track in winter so the track is probably contracted as much as it will ever be additionally there are almost no Expansion Joints in the curve here so to fix that I slid the Joiner on this short straight section of track back and then used the Dremel to add a gap that way when the track heats up in summer it will have a bit of a gap that it can expand into any missing sections of ties are added making these sections of tracks seamlessly blend together to cut the track between the modules I highly recommend using a Dremel with a flexible shaft attachment this enables me to get the cutting blade down perpendicular to the track giving me much more control leaving a much nicer and more discreet cut safety glasses are a must especially when using these thin cutting blades they can shatter and Tiny shards can fly in all directions you really want to protect your eyes to cut the sleepers I use a razor saw you could use the Dremel however I find the Razor saw gives a nicer cut I also run the hobby knife along the cork to cut through this super glue that was drenched over the area when pulling the knife through try to avoid damaging the track luckily for me the damage was minimal and all I needed to do was bend it back and re-solder it lasting along the track I ended up with a gap that was much too big here to fix it I cut out a one millimeter thick piece of styrene roughly into the shape of the rail basically a bit of a wedge with a bit of super glue the wedge was pressed down into the Joiner to fill the gap some zip kicker will help the glue set faster then the excess is trimmed and the top gently filed down to match the rail head height once painted you won't even know the Gap was there [Music] and that completes this track laying video I hope you learned something and if you want to help support the channel you might consider becoming a patron I have a great community over on patreon and over the next few months this project progresses I'll be spending more time there posting updates and talking to you to see what you'd like to see in future videos for this layout build series and for the seven dollar patrons you also get access to my members only area of the website where I have a collection of backdrops that can be printed for your model railroad and you'll also have access to download items from my store as part of the patron reward don't forget you can also Post in the members area you can post photos plans ideas questions or whatever I'll be checking it more regularly so feel free to start a conversation with me over there as well hope you enjoyed the video and the next video will be looking at wiring the track so we can actually run a train cheers and thanks for watching

Channel: Boulder Creek Railroad

Views: 221,659

Keywords: Luke Towan, Boulder Creek Railroad, Modular Model Railroad Layout, Modular Model Train Tracks, Track Laying on Modules, Building Modular Model Railroads, Model Railroad Modules, Model Railroad Track Installation, Modular Model Railway Building, Model Train Track Planning, Module-based Model Railroading, Model Railroad Interconnections, Seamless Track Joints, Model Train Module Design, Track Alignment Techniques, Model Train Module Construction, Module-based Layout Tips

Id: oVwdhdmpDdg

Length: 17min 30sec (1050 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 28 2023