ballast

[tlnibert]

I'd like to have a few suggestions on bonding my ballast. My layout ballast over time has spread out. I saw a coment about cement glue, but can't find it.

Do I mix it with water, or sprinkle dry cement on the ballast.  Would adding lime make it more white?

I'm using crusher fines.....

Tom

[vsmith]

To me it depends on where you live and what kind of weather extremes your dealing with, I have used floating track on a crushed gravel ballast with no problems.

[tlnibert]

I live in Huntington WV with snow, rain, frost heave and all the nasty stuff.  I haven't ran trains on the layout for several years and I'm rebuilding it. I have 6 tons on gravel on hand. There's 13 ton of ballast down now, but over the years it has spread.  I didn't trench the original track and it was a mistake.

Tom

[Capt Bob Johnson]

There is some grey stuff you can get at lowes or home depotty that you cut with water, put in a spray bottle, and spray on the ballast after you get everything set.   Makes it crusty so it stays in rain, yet you can bust it up to chamge the layout later on if you want to!

Mix it with stone dust or powder and you can make streets out of it!

[cokeoven]

I live in SE wisconsin, and I get my ballast from a local nursery. It is 1/4 inch crushed limestone, and is pure white. To adhere it to my concrete paver roadbead and to make it gray, I fill half of a 5 gal. bucket w/ballast, and 5 lbs of viynl cement patch. (from menards), and throw in 1 and a half cup of water. mix until the ballast is gray, and sticks together. then apply to the track. the ballast bonds to the concrete block roadbead, and this stuff STICKS. Even if your track is not on a concrete paver base it works good. you can walk on the track without any problems. seems like a lot of work, but it really holds well

[ttrigg]

Try looking at the same basic subject thread  

what do you use to GLUE ballast down.....

under "Railway design, construction, and gardening"

Scroll down through the postings, then go out to the link I put into the posting.  GREAT STUFF!

[tlnibert]

Thanks Tom I went over and read it.

The last crusher fines are not as white as earlier loads. I have 6 ton to redo my layout.  I started yesterday and have a long way to go.  I was thinking about using cement and sprinkle it down and then give it a light spray of water.  Dad made me add lime to cement to white wash the house and I thought about adding some lime( this was 40 years ago).  If you know this won't work let me know.

It's already 81 degrees at 7:16 in the morning, this fat boy is not playing outside today.

 

Tom