There are many ways of laying your track. I have tried many and keep coming back to the way I have shown in this clinic.

You first have to set yourself a standard and stick to it. This is not as hard as it sounds! The most common standard at the moment is PECO 75. Is this a standard? Well, yes it is. It has a fixed rail section, gauge and height. It is also readily available and at a reasonable price. The check rails have a little more slop than that needed for the NMRA gauge. The point number is 4.5 but comes with 3 different leads, small, medium and large, which will suit most needs.

What does “code” mean? It is the height of the rail in thousands of an inch.

For the purpose of this clinic I will use code 75 Peco. First mark the centreline of you track on the roadbed with a pencil. I use pre-cut cork for the track bed, the stuff that has a square profile (as opposed to the lengths that are angled). Place the cork on the roadbed, centred on the pencil mark. Take a length of nice new flextrack and place on the cork. About 3 ties (sleepers) in from the end drill a small hole (0.95mm) through the tie and cork into the roadbed with a pin vice. To hold the track down I use a 1 x 15mm panel pin. I cut the head off with a pair if side cutters.

Place the pin in the hole and push firmly into place, with the top of the pin level with the top of the tie. Move along the track about 100mm (4”) and do the same again. If the track is to be a straight section then use a straightedge at least 600mm long against the outside edge of the track to make a perfect straight line. Move along the track fitting a pin every 100mm. After dressing and painting, the pin is now invisible.
 

Use a pin vice to drill the hole.

Push the pin into the hole

Dress the pin with a motor tool

At this point the question always asked is, Why not glue the cork to the road bed and glue the track to the cork? The answer is, the cork and track will be glued - twice – at a later stage. Many like to glue the track down 4 times, I only have another 35 years to live and I would like to finish a layout and run some trains! But, it depends on your own level of paranoia.

 When you come to the end of a length of track, remove the last tie and put it in a safe place – you will need it later. Also remove the first tie on the next piece of track. Slide a rail joiner (fish plate) onto the next piece of rail and join the two pieces together. Now make sure that the join is straight – no doglegs. This will ensure trouble free running for a long time. Fig 3 shows the track joiner and the two reduced tie underneath. This way there is no vertical distortion in the join.

Turnouts are normally the biggest obstacle to good running but a few tricks before you put it in place will pay dividends in the long run. Read the Peco sheet that comes with the turnout, it will show you how to cut the links to the frog and solder the switch rail to the stock rail. This will avoid the constant cleaning of the surfaces between the two rails for good contact. Using this method means you will have to power the frog from an external switch. The sliding switch stand as described by John Saxon MMR on the NMRA web page is the perfect answer (SwitchThrow).
 
 

When you have finished laying a few sections of track, use a small motor tool with cut off disc to gently smooth the top of the panel pin, you may forget to do so later. Push some rolling stock back an forth on the track and over the turnouts to check for smooth running.
 
 

Smooth transitions between turnouts is a must Click on this image to see some handlaid code 40 turnouts in place

Gentle curves, not angles make for reliable running as shown  in this yard throat.

The slide switch used to operate turnouts is  shown in place.

How to wire your track.

This is one area that is always ‘the poor Cinderella’ of layout building. In the past many layouts have been wired with ‘off cuts from my mate at Telecom’. This has been the failure of some good layouts.

Again we must set a standard for wiring and stick to it. The introduction of DCC has brought a need for good wiring which has also flowed over to layouts run on DC. You have to run a buss wire under the track and run feeder wires to each section of track. If you use DC then the buss wire will run back to your block switch. If you run DCC then the wire will run back to the power booster, the result is the same – no voltage drop to the track.

All the major electronic houses sell a heavy weight twin cable for low voltage use, this is ideal for the buss wire. It normally comes as a red/black pair, which is great for keeping the right polarity to the right rail. Use a heavy-duty hook up wire for the feeders to the track.

Now the easy part. Drill a hole on each side of the track for the feeder wires. The hole will need to be a loose fit on the wire. Drill as close to the rail as possible. Pass the wire through the hole and feed enough through to reach the buss wire plus 100mm and cut off just above the rail. Strip 10mm of insulation from the top end of the wire, twist cleanly and then tin with solder.

Tinning with solder means applying the soldering iron and the solder to the wire at the same time, this will cause the solder to flow into the cable for a good bond. You will need an iron of 30 – 60 watts for this job. If you use a low wattage iron you will end up with a poor solder joint and melt many of the ties.
 

With a little practice you can solder to the bottom of the rail.

Feeder wires should be kept short under the layout.

Using the twin cable and stripping  2" apart will prevent the wires from shorting together

Cut the very tip of the wire for a clean end and then bend the tip to an L shape the tail should be about 3 mm long. Tin the rail just above the hole. To get the best results use a drop of Carr’s Red Solder Flux applied with a small paint brush. Do NOT use Bakers flux (from you plumbing mate) it is too corrosive. Now pull wire down so that the L hook is level with the side of the rail, push the wire against rail so that it sits on the web then apply the soldering iron the two lots of solder will flow together very quickly then pull your iron away. Let the wire cool for 30 secs then give a gentle tug from underneath to check the bond is good. Do this to all the feeders, at least one feeder per metre of track.

Now to connect the feeders to the buss wire. The perfect wire stripper is available from most electronic houses for around $25 or from Big W for $9.95. The stripper will cut into the insulation and then pull the insulation apart. With a gap of 10mm in the insulation it is easy to wrap the feeder wire around the buss and then solder in place. The insulation breaks in each wire should be 50mm apart so that there is no chance of them touching. An alternative is to use ‘suit case’ connecters from you auto electrician.

Once you have laid 8-10 ft of track it is best to wire it and test it. For those who are good at soldering they can solder the feeder to the under side of the rail as they go. This will make a tidier joint as long as you know what you are doing.

Before you do the scenery, paint the track, ballast the track there is one important step to take – Cleaning the track. This does not mean rub the top of the track with an angle grinder, nor an orbital sander, nor a big file. Treat the rail as you would the paint work on your car. Treat it with tender loving care. By now the rail has been filed, coated with solder flux, handled by your grubby hands (unless you put the latex gloves on before you started), sat in the train for the past 5 years waiting for you to start track laying. To remove all solvents and corrosion use an industrial product that was designed for the job – CRC2-26. It contains no oils or silicones and is gentle on the track surface. Apply some CRC to a piece of 40mm x 40mm x 6mm cork (the same cork you used for the road bed) gently rub the top of the track, you will feel the cork as it cleans the track. When you have done all the track got and have a coffee or tea then come back and go over the track with a piece of dry cork to remove any residual – when you wash the car you do not leave the soap on it and say you have finished!

Run some trains over a few days to check the track. Once you are happy with the track it is time to paint the track. To make the job easier it is best to coat the top of the rails before spraying. Again apply CRC liberally without wiping off. Spray your track the desired colour, normally Floquil Rail Brown, and then clean as before with CRC before the paint dries hard. You will be amazed at how easy it is to clean the rail head. Once the rail head has been cleaned leave the layout for a few days to let the paint dry hard.
 
 

How to Ballast your track

The next step is to apply some scenery (another clinic covers this). The applied scenery will soak into the edge of the road bed and hold the cork firmly.

When the scenery has set/cured, depending on the method used, it is time to ballast the track. If you are under 30 years old and have nothing to do for the next 30 years, you can use a small spoon and a small paint brush to put the ballast on the track and brush it between the ties then use an eye dropper to put wood glue (?) on it to hold it in place. Or, you can use the following method and run trains the same week. Pour your ballast into a bowl or washed Chinese food container, bend an old business card down its long middle and you are most of the way there. You will also need a piece of firm foam sponge. The ideal size is 60mm x 60mm x 20mm, these are available from all hobby shops by many manufacturers. They will also include a free piece of rolling stock of your choice.
 

Using the bent card scoop up some ballast from the bowl and run it down the middle of the track so that there is a pile about 6mm high running along about 300mm of track. Place the foam block at one end, the 20mm side should be along the top of the rails, slide the block along the rails with a little downward pressure you will see the ballast flattening out in front of the block and spread the width of the track. Move the block back to the start and repeat, but this time apply a little more pressure to the trailing edge of the foam. This will make the ballast sit down a scale 2.45 inches below the top of the ties. If there are any bits of ballast on the ties, just tap the top of the rail with a chop stick and the ballast will drop into place.

Ballasting turnouts is just as easy. Start from the throwbar and work away from the moving part. If ballast does get in the gap along side the throwbar you can gently blow it out using a small drinking straw.

Once you are happy with the ballast you can stick it down. In the ‘70’s I used Aqadhere like most modellers of the day but in the early ‘80’s I started using a latex product for the scenery and the ballast. That product is no longer available but a perfect replacement is P60 from Simply Glues, a good Ozzie product.
 

Use P60 straight from the bottle  supplied.

Bounce a chop stick on top of the rail to remove the ballast from the top of the ties

Use a different coulour ballast for sidings and spur tracks

Wet the track and ballast with a spray bottle containing wet water (wet water is water with a little dish washing liquid added). Only do a metre at a time. The P60 comes in a handy bottle with a small spout, but this can be improved by adding a small control valve. To make this valve use a 50mm section of a bamboo kebab stick (3mm wide x 50mm long). Hold the pointed end and slice a long slice with a sharp knife. This should give you a long tapered stick to place in the top of the spout. Pushing the stick further in will limit the flow of the P60.

Hold the point of the stick/spout about 2mm above the centre of the track and move along the track at a slow speed. The latex will spread automagically through the ballast. If it does not spread all the way to the out side edge, run a small bead on the outside of the rail. As it dries it becomes clear, at this point use the cork with CRC to clean the track. Leave overnight to dry.

There, you have now laid your track, wired it, tested it, painted, ballasted it and cleaned it. All without stress or pain. The major difference between P60 and Aqadhere is that P60 dries pliable, has no shine and is for ballasting not carpentry. Which will last the longest I cannot say, I have some sections that have been down for 18 years and travelled 40,00km in a trailer around Australia without any problem. Ask me again in 20 years.

Gerry Hopkins MMR
 
 

Make all track flow smoothly at the join to avoid derailments in the future.	The slide switch can be used for any type of turnout. This is a code 55 HOn30"	The slide switch can be mounted at the side of the layout to avoid reaching over the buildings and scenery for those who are vertically challenged