How to Add Tracks to Model Train Villages

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village my name is Bob Lanning and I’m here to tell you about we’re making model villages. You can see then the village, the two train tracks running back there that are really done very realistically with little figures in the background. We’re going to talk about how you make the track look that way and how to lay it. The track was actually built on cork; usually the cork was laid down on top of the wood. Some people put the track right on the wood, but that’s fairly noisy. You can buy commercial cork which is beveled to look like the road bed, and you put your track down and uh, and either nail it or glue it down and then you have to come too and put in your ballast and the scenery stuff you see there, all the grasses and stuff and make it look like it’s laid right in there like the real track works. And this little piece I’ve made here you can see how the finished track work is done and I’ll go through the steps. Like I mentioned, there was the cork laid down and glued down and then you put your track on top. You can either nail it down with the holes provided and I usually use spikes which are very realistic looking along the way and then you sprinkle on your ballast. Now this is done with using a Elmer’s Glue, soap and water mixture, makes the mixture flow right through the ballast, and glues it down and you spread it by the little paper cup or with a little envelope full of ballast and a little brush and it really looks realistic. You can see where I added a little bit of the grasses along the edge to give it a little finished look. Now this is just to show how they could be done. If it’s a single track or double track or a siding, it would all be used the same way. If you’re using it where a railroad turnover or switch is, you’ve got to be very careful to keep the ballast out of the moving parts But it's the same process no matter what type of track you’re using. "