ballast questions

[VulcanCCIT]

Earlier i posted about using sand and I appreciate all of your responses.  I think I will stick with the commercial ballast as in Woodland Scenics or Arizona Sand and Gravel.  I had a layout a few years ago and aquired a LOT of the Woodland Scenics brand that I got on Ebay.  I still have a bunch of course and Medium styles...and a little bit of fine.

 My question is, which type of ballast is best for HO?  to me, the course looks too big.  Do you mix it? or stay all one size? 

Lastly, do you ever swtich colors?  I have some greys, buff, medium brown, cinder, all kinds of colors.  it would be nice to use it all instead of buying more. 

I really appreciate all of your input and experience.  I hope I am not asking too many questions here.

[locoi1sa]

 Chuck

 It is your rail road. You can use one size for the main line and the smaller sizes for sidings and yards. You can blend the colors and sizes or have a short section of track a different color to represent a recent repair.

 For HO I like the fine and medium blended together. But then I am a transition era modeler. Modern rail roads seem to have gone to a larger stone size.

        Pete

[rclanger]

 Having asked this question a few weeks ago I did receive a lot of good advice.  Here is the link if you would like to check it out: All of your question are answered very clearly.  As one would expect there are different opinions so you have to make the final decision.  I would suggest building a short diorama with a couple of tracks.  Ballast each differently and see what you like.

[pastorbob]

Another comment.  Railroads don't all use the same color ballast.  If you have an interchange track for another railroad modeled, it would be appropriate to use that railroads color.  Also, I spent my summers in the late 50's while in college in Oklahoma working as a yard clerk for the Santa Fe on the old Oklahoma Div. and I will assure you that most spurs got a lighter dusting of ballast, it is also often mixed colors (whatever was available). I would think the same is true today.

Bob

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 As far as the size ballast to use I think may depend on the manufacturer. I have found that woodland scenic fine is best used for HO their course and medium are much too large. A guy told me a long time ago that he judges ballast under a magnifying glass. I thought he was a little bonkers at first but after trying it I saw what he meant. If you took a picture of W/S course or medium ballast with a macro lens it would look like boulders instead of ballast. I have found you can use that stuff as alternative ground cover in certain parts of the layout. I have used black sand as a base for black ciders in my servicing terminal  but have yet to try any other sand colors. I personally think Arizona R&M and Smith & sons are the best ballast there is. I don't even know if Smith & sons are still in business though. You'll notice on Arizona's site he has mainline ballast as well as branch line etc. As mentioned the prototype used different ballast on different types of track as well as almost all railroads differed in the types of ballast they used. For example the Reading used mainly cinders and excess coal as it was cheap and pleantiful. Ballast on the UP wouldn't look the same as Ballast on Conrail trackage so it depends on where your railroad is being depicted.

[tedski]

I only use the fine grade for ballast.  When put the medium and large up against some HO figures you could easily see the scale problem.  Even medium is as big as the foot on an HO figure so it would look like the railroad was ballasted with football-sized ballast stones. 

[WSOR 3801]

 We've been using this on our layout.  Seems to be finely crushed rock, not the walnut shells Woodland Scenics uses. 

[cthse]

I model the Milwaukee Road's Oolitic, IN branch (limestone mill and quarry) in HO in 1966.  By that time, the line was buried in grass and weeds.  I used W/S fine buff to just fill in between the ties, then covered it with different ground foam colors.  I many places, all you see is the rail heads sticking through.  Needless to say, speeds a VERY slow.

You can do this for any decrepit branch, siding, or even yard track.  I kept a wheel set with old plastic wheels handy to make sure there was flange clearance for the scenery.  Use ballast you wouldn't want to normally be seen to fill in between the ties.

Last note:  Be carefull around your turnouts.  Use all ballasting and scenery materials SPARINGLY!!  Otherwise, you'll spend hours getting your tunouts to move, and carry the current.

Have fun!

John Dick

-hauling limestone on the CTH&SE in 1966

[VulcanCCIT]

WSOR that looks awesome!!!

John I will be careful on the turnouts, I remember having issues with that before...im almost afraid to get near it.  I now have all of my track down but im just now doing the turnouts and rail yard.  so shortly after that I will start ballasting, but ill leave the turnouts for last.

I have a bunch of woodland scenics left over from my last layout so I think I will stay with that for now.  I will go with medium and some fine...last time I used course and I see now that was too big.

 

[schlimm]

rclanger

Here is the link if you would like to check it out: All of your question are answered very clearly

 

Be careful with that link.  The pictures show rather unrealistic ballasting of a yard, perhaps the result of medium size ballast.  Also be careful to get particles off the ties, as this exaggerates the out-of-scale problems.

[80"Drivers]

 I have used the medium in the past, but after reading these tips I'll have to try the fine stuff. I like to use lighter shades of gray, then stain the ballast with washes of black and brown acrylics to simulate dirt and oil. Don't forget to leave piles of sand where the locos dig in for traction.

Here's a tip that works well for me - after spreading the ballast with a 1" paint brush, I turn the brush around and rattle the handle on top of the rails. This causes the ballast sitting on top of the ties an rails to bounce around and nestle into the space between the ties. Give it try!

[twhite]

For HO, I use a mixture of WS medium and fine.  I model the California Sierra, and the ballast out here is usually crushed granite from riverbeds, which can be also a mixture of rock sizes, so I use a mixture of medum and light gray with a sprinkling of cinders for mainline ballast.   I don't generally choose the ballast by size, but color.  If I remember correctly, the ballast I initially used on my mainline was a mixture of fine light gray, cinders and medium dark gray. 

I'm currently re-laying my yard track at my major terminal, and I'm planning on using WS fine in shades of earth, gray and cinders for that particular trackage. 

Tom

[tangerine-jack]

Prototype ballast is generaly 2-3" in size, so scale out accordingly for your layout.  For HO this would be approx "fine" cut for most commercial ballast.  Most ballast would be granite or quartzite, so grey or pink-grey coloration would be more or less "generic" for a North American railroad.   As ballast ages and gets contaminated with dirt and other junk, the color changes so, depending on how old a section of track is you are trying to model, that consideration will factor into final color selection.   The final selection will be subjective on the coloration, but to have it look "right" then you will really need to use "fine" cut ballast.