quick question about box file layouts

[darrel]

I have just started on my first boxfile layout its N gauge so far i have joined two boxfiles together. now its time to lay the track.

with a normal layout I would use track pins but woth a boxfile the pins would stick out the bottom. what have other people used? I was thinking of double sided tape I used it on my T gauge layout but it didnt need ballasting this layout will. suggestions please.

[Kenton]

I stopped using track pins many many years ago and will not use them on anything.

 

Copydex or double sided tape works perfectly. Ballasting is not a problem.

[Stubby47]

On Porth Byhan, I didn't even use sleepers.

 

I just laid the two pairs of rails directly on to the foamboard, correctly spaced, so I could inset the track within the stone setts.

 

(To keep the correct track gauge, I inverted the sleepers and slid the chairs onto the upper part of the rail, whilst I positioned the rai land the glue dried. Afterwards, I just slid the sleepers off.)

 

Stu

[bcnPete]

Depends if you want the 'insert' in the boxfile to be removable or not.

 

If so, I used a built up section of card and foamboard to make my 'inserts' so they could be removed as and when required.

 

If its permanent, then the advice above is all sound...Stu being the 'Master' of all things boxfile

[mjcampbell]

PVA glue works fine, or Bostik-type impact adhesive, especially once ballasted as the glue applied to the ballast makes it all rigid.

 

A hint if you are using flexi-track, pre bend the track so that it will sit in place without pins. If necessary slide the rails out from the sleepers (having cut the track to length), and manipulate in your fingers to the curve, being careful that it only bends horizontally and the flat-bottom will still sit flat on a table. Then slide the rails back in.

 

Then the glue only needs to hold it down and there is no tension from the track trying to straighten itself!

[cornamuse]

On Porth Byhan, I didn't even use sleepers.

 

I just laid the two pairs of rails directly on to the foamboard, correctly spaced, so I could inset the track within the stone setts.

 

(To keep the correct track gauge, I inverted the sleepers and slid the chairs onto the upper part of the rail, whilst I positioned the rai land the glue dried. Afterwards, I just slid the sleepers off.)

 

Stu

 

jeez - I have been trying for ages to work out how to do inset track effectively - this would never have occurred...

 

Genius idea, Stu

[darrel]

thanks for the replies I hadnt thought of pitting an insert into the boxfile I had thought of just using it without an insert

[darrel]

here are photos of progress so far track is still to be glued down

the boxfile nearest is going to be the scenic section the one furthest away is going to be the fiddle yard.

[47137]

... i have joined two boxfiles together. now its time to lay the track.

with a normal layout I would use track pins but woth a boxfile the pins would stick out the bottom. what have other people used? ...

I suggest laying the track on a sub-base of plywood or foam board (all of the methods suggested above are fine). Then you can inspect it, paint it, ballast it and test it without the sides of the box files getting in the way. After all this is done it will be easy to fix the sub-base down into the boxes. Also the sub-base will give you a little thickness in which to cut grooves to run the wiring.

[Stubby47]

I used two boxes on Porth Byhan, one scenic and one fiddle yard. However, I turned the FY one 180 deg around, so the lid was at the 'front'. Holding both lids vertical, I used a piece of thin board as a side screen between the two lids.

 

By also raising the floor of the box to put the rails on, it added strength which allowed me to cut part of the box front wall away.