Model Railway Forum

Given the shed is dry and not susceptible to damp, but is not heated so does have temperature variation through the year, would it be best pinning, or would gluing with copydex or similar be better ?

As all the track is flex apart from points, to rough it out I will use flange head short screws fixed between sleeper with the head covering 2 sleepers to temporarily hold in place and make adjustments, should I put something like a 0.5 to 0.75mm gap in each join to allow for expansion, or am I overthinking it ?

As its only me second proper layout, and its the first in a shed, I thought maybe those of you much more experienced in these matters could help me avoid making costly mistakes

Oh and apologies mods if this is not the correct section, I couldn't decide where was !

You need a credit card thickness gap on every joint under normal temperature. Obviously if you do this when it is swelteringly hot the gap will be enormous when it is very cold.

I always pin my track but once ballast has been glued down the pins could be removed, I don’t bother, they can’t be seen.

Thank you Walkingthedog.
If its sweltering I wont be in the shed tinkering, if its freezing I wont be in the shed tinkering ! So an expired CC can be utilised to set gaps
Pinning was my go to choice TBH, and probably the safe bet, but just wondered if copydex would cope with the varied temperature as it was something I haven't tried and seems a common choice for many.

My layout is in a properly converted loft and is 36x10ft. Neverthess being at the top of the house it still gets hot in summer - got to 39C when we had those record temperatures a while ago despite having all the roof windows open. All my track is Peco code 75 Streamline. I just use a small ribbon of PVA on every 3rd or 4th sleeper and then temporarily hold in place with drawing pins till the glue sets. The scenic section on one side is subsequently ballasted, but the 16-road storage yard on the other side is not. Despite being laid over 10 years ago now, no track has ever moved. I'm using closed-cell foam underlay.

If you're going to use PVA, then buy a good product like Evostik. I once bought some from Poundland and it was so thin it didn't stick anything! And if you need isolation gaps then use insulated rail joiners rather than just cutting the rail. In hot weather the rails can close up and cause an unexpected short which can take a while to trace (guess how I know!).

My railway room is in the house, so has carpet and central heating - absolute luxury . I used cork underlay under my Peco Code 75 and used track pins through previously drilled holes through the sleepers, before finished with ballast - using a 70/30 water and PVA to set it all in place. Some track pins were removed, but as WTD mentioned, many are hard to see, so left in place. The layout was built in 2013/14 and the track has never moved, with the exception of the recently removed board to allow window replacement. Board and track have now been replaced. Droppers and ballasting is the next job.