Best way to fix oo track to base outdoors?

[Jenny Emily]

I'm planning (subject to weather) on starting construction of the 'baseboards' for the garden extension to my shed layout. I built the brick piers last year, and have fixings and posts to go on top of them. On top of that I'm planning on using 1/2" marine ply braced by 1"x2" batons and covered in roofing felt. My question is: what's the most effective way to fasten down the track onto this?

 

I'll be using Peco code 100 flexitrack. I'm undecided over whether it would be sinsible to use brass track pins, as potentially this might allow water to penetrate the roofing felt and get to work promoting rot of the wood over time. I am planning on ballasting the track ultimately, using a 50-50 mix of cement powder and fine sand that will be brushed on dry, then wetted with PVA/water mix to set it and hopefully promote a little bit of flexibility so that it won't just flake off. I had also thought about using old engine oil to (dis)colour the ballast and dissuade slugs and snails and other local fauna and flora from paying the track a visit. Would the Peco track base be resilient to this or would it be a bad idea? On the plus side, oiling the ballast might waterproof any track pins if they are used. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

When I had my OO outdoors in a previous location to where I now live - track straight onto tanalised wooden base, no scenic treatment like ballast - I used fairly heavy duty drawing pins between the sleepers. I found this had two great advantages. The track can move slightly if it needs to in response to the effects of continuous blazing sunshine on a really warm day; now this probably only happened about half a dozen times in the twelve years, but when it did the stuck railjoiners were clearly in evidence by the track distorting slightly due to the rail not being free to move easily. I feel I might have had rail buckling enough to tear out of the chairs if the track base had been fixed down tight in this event. And secondly, it was very easy to lift track to deal with layout changes or realignment issues. I used a simple all timber post and beam structure because on a clay soil with chalk immediately beneath there was significant ground movement with the seasonal round of wet winter clag, dry summer pottery. It's a lot easier to 'precision adjust' the support posts with the 7lb sledge if there's no track to avoid when restoring alignment...

 

I like your idea of old engine oil to dissuade visits from the local fauna. Creosote on the woodwork didn't work, I can tell you that. We get squirrel, fox, badger, jays, magpie, crow, in the current garden, and between them they made outdoor OO impractical by going for the track over a period of two years of trials. Quite why it was so interesting I don't know; whatever, abandoning outdoors for the decent indoor space I happily have available was the way I dealt this problem.