CVMW Ties Strips & Turnout Kits

Support this website by joining the Silver Rails TrainWeb Club for as little as $1 per month. Click here for info.

This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/freemoslo to TrainWeb.US/freemoslo.

Central Valley Model Works Ties Strips & Turnout Kits By Bob Schrempp
This is a photo essay of my first attempt to hand lay track. I am using Central Valley Model Works (CV) Tie Strips and a CV number 6 Turnout Kit. Chris Palomarez helped me, he has experience laying track and with CV ties and turn out kits.
The first step is to remove the ties from the spru and clean up any extra plastic off the ties. I used a small knife. There was very little clean up to do.
Next I painted the ties Floquil "Roof Brown". "Roof Brown" and "Railroad Tie Brown" are almost the same color.
Next I masked off the tie plates and sprayed them Floquil "Rust". I then did a very light spray of Floquil "Roof Brown" over that to soften the rust color.
Here is what the painted ties now look like. Much better then the black plastic.
I used HomaBed roadbed. It has been painted with a latex paint to seal it. This is my Free-mo Module Duffy. At this point I already have the switch machine installed under the roadbed.
The ties were glued down using Barge Glue. It is similar to rubber cement. You can get it at Ace Hardware. Beware that the Barge will "dissolve" the plastic the ties.
Next I spread the ballast over the ties. Just use your fingers to brush the ballast off the ties.
Then use a paint brush to form the shoulders.
Next spray a fine mist of water over the ties. Spray the water out and let it fall onto the ties and ballast until everything is good and wet. If you spray to directly, you will "blow" the ballast around. (Thanks Chris for helping)
After the ballast is very wet, drip a solution of 50% white glue and 50% water onto the ties. Let it run from the ties onto the ballast. The Glue will wick into the ballast. You need to SOAK the ballast with the glue water mixture. Be careful not to get a puddle of glue on the top that might "run" down the ballast and create a washout. Notice that for the module end I used a piece of masking tape to form the end of the ballast.
Let the track dry for a long long time. I did this in the winter and it took two days to dry.
Here is a picture of the end product.
I was building a number 6 switch so I had to cut down the points that come in the kit.
Next I glued the frog into place.
I then filed a pint onto two pieces of rail and soldered them together for the rest of the frog. At this point I realized that I did not paint any of the extra pieces in the kit. So I painted the frog, points and guard rails.
Next I glued the stock rails down. I used a mixture of 50% Barge and 50% MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone). MEK can melt the plastic so be very careful with it. Before I glued the rails down, I soldered feeder wires to the bottoms of the rails. I then drilled holes in the roadbed between the ties in the corresponding locations. This way the feeder wires are very hard to see.
Next I installed the points and throw bar.
I then added the closure rails and guard rails. The switch is now basically done.
I use "I" in the text with the pictures but it is really "we" or sometimes it should be "Chris", but to make it easier I just used the first person I. Thanks to Chris for all your help and guidance.
Return to Free-Mo-SLO Home Page Page Last Updated 12/19/2004