LAYING THE TRACK

Not necessary the first bit
temporary screw between sleepers

If you are planing a layout or just putting track were you can find a bit of room, you can do it scientifically or by guess work like I did. First stage get some good flexi track such as peco and all the turnouts for the new section and fit them all together, not forgetting all the necessary joiners and insulators. When every thing is roughly in position fix down temporary with some round or flat headed screws just big enough to fit between the sleepers, the underside of the screw head clamping the sleepers to the base board.
Fine adjustments are easily carried out by loosening the screw and sliding the track sideways until a smooth transition of rolling stock is achieved on all the bends and crossovers etc. Most of the electrical wiring can be installed for track power and turnout control to allow a good session of testing and rerouting of the system until all train operations can be carried out satisfactory without accidents. (I wish!)

THE PROPER JOB

The next bit
For the next bit you need some special foam rubber, pva glue and some scale gravel Chipping's. The rubber is scrounged from commercial vehicle body builders (they put it between side panels of trucks etc to stop them leaking), or from printers and paper converters (they use it for mending coffee cups and making balls to throw at electricians). The pva glue can be found in tiny tins in most hardware stores, or as watered down (just right) waste, in big buckets piled up in print works skips. If you ask first you will get enough watery glue to cause a real environmental problem in the kitchen.  

 

section view of track
I can only suggest buying the gravel from a model train shop unless you have a big driveway, I did try the stuff from cat litter bags but don't recomend it because the cat will dig holes in the track when it's finished.

First step is to mark the position of the track on the base board and then remove as many temporary screws as you dare. Then very carefully position strips of the foam rubber so that it follows the center line of the track, sticky side down making sure the curves are exactly the same as the track. Next paint on the watered down glue all over the rubber plus about 15 to 20mm each side onto the base board and then lower the track back into position. The most popular size of scrounged rubber is always a bit too narrow for the sleepers but that's ok. Next pour a pile of gravel

blast it, missed again!

onto the track before the glue dries and spread it along the prepared length, leave a few hours until the glue sets hard and then remove the loose gravel with 12volt vacuum cleaner specially acquired for the job and not used for cleaning purposes
A nice even cover of gravel will have formed around and between the sleepers but will need building up at the side of the rubber from the baseboard to the track, this is done with loose gravel until the required shape is formed then soaked with watered down glue carefully poured over the top and again left to dry hard. The result is quite good, fairly quiet when travelled over by trains and strong enough when they don,t.