Both the roadbed and track are glued in place with adhesive calk. Canned veggies make great weights!
Hidden turnouts (track switches) will be controlled by switch motors mounted above the plywood, while exposed turnouts have their machines mounted underneath. Turnouts aren't glued, but spiked down so they could be replaced if they fail. Here's a pair of turnouts and a switch motor:
The motor is mounted to the underside of the turnout; a rectangular hole is cut through the Homa-Bed and plywood. Here's one ready to mount in place:
...and placed:
One of the spikes used to hold the turnouts in place:
I don't like soldering, because I've never mastered it! Despite this, most rail joints are soldered for strength. The track is fed from an electrical buss underneath; feeder wires are soldered to each track section.
The first sign of something "scenic" - the exposed track is airbrushed at this point, to color the crossties a dirty brown, and to lessen the "plastic" look. This is done now because as the track is "brought into service", it is prepped with a 3 step sanding (600, 1000 & 1200 grit), vacuumed, then burnished with a stainless steel washer, and finally the railhead is polished with Maas Metal Polish. I'm told that this burnishing and polishing process keeps the track cleaner than the more common "scrub it with an abraisive pad" method - it makes sense to me - no fine scratches for dirt to cling to - time will tell. Much more detail is yet to come on the track, but this painting needs to be done before sanding and polishing.
