Testing my purchases has been a swift and sometimes risky business, involving a few short lengths of track, with the standard Hornby push-in power connector, and a quick blast of angry pixies in either direction. This was not an ideal situation.
I had a roughly one metre long piece of 44mm x 18mm whitewood PSE wood left over from the layout frame, and I thought to put it to good use as part of a test track.
First thing, I looked out these items:
A piece of 3mm x 35mm x 900mm cork.
A length of Hornby flexi-track (970mm).
A Meccano - Hornby sprung buffer stop.
A Hornby controller (from the 'Caledonian Local' set).
PVA Glue.
Acrylic paints and brushes.
Here's what I did:
I first cut the ends of the wood 'square', and then got on with adding a fairly generous coat of burnt sienna acrylic paint.
Once dry, the buffer stop was fixed to the wood, and the top (track bed face) of the wood painted with undiluted PVA glue. The underside of the cork was similarly coated with PVA, and then placed upon the wood. The cork had been previously uncoiled and placed under a length of track for 24 hours, which meant that it did not try to return to a coiled state.
It soon became apparent that the 900mm cork length was a little short, and so some offcuts were added to match up with the track length. These pieces being shorter and coiled up, they needed to be weighed down until the PVA glue dried. The track was then dry laid on top to check the length.
Once the glue for the cork layer had dried, I was able to trim off the cork out past the track and re-coat everything with the burnt sienna paint, including the top of the cork. I then used superglue to fix two WAGO connectors to the wood for the track power, and soldered jumper wires to the outside edges of the track at that end. Next I painted the top of the cork with undiluted PVA glue, and laid the track upon it.
Finally and with the glue still wet, I attached the Hornby power supply via the WAGO connectors, then it was time for a quick test!
Ready to go!
Lima D9003 'Meld' crashes into the buffers on the maiden journey.
The glue has since completely dried clear and the track is solidly affixed. A great addition which has already proven it's usefulness.