Great looking, affordable ballast

[Anonymous]

I decided to experiment with a few rocks i found on a walk one day. i then smashed them up with the sledge hammer.......after a few hits i was left with ballast. 20mins later i had enouf to do my whole board :) and it didn't cost a cent. the results were as good as the stuff they sold in the hobby store down the road

[Anonymous]

I use an old hand cranked sausage grinder to size my ballast. It has plates that you can change to change the size of the material. I can grind up charcoal aquarium filter to represent coal and cinders. It mixes different materials thoroughly, so I can add in dirt and sand for variation. I've even pulverised the kitty litter really fine and used it as weathering chalk.

[Anonymous]

I had considered using kitty litter, but it looks like it might be too big. I went to a local track and looked at the real ballast used here, and the pieces are about 3" in diameter, which, I think?, would equal about 1/20th of an inch. the litter I have is closer to, or almost, 1/8th ". Am I correct?
Tim

[cwclark]

I have found that common floor tile GROUT makes a great inexpensive ballast material...it comes in all kinds of colors and the size of the granules is about as close to prototype as the woodland scenics ballast material....

[cacole]

I have used real powdered rock and very fine grained white sand, and prefer the Cat's Pride litter for the simple reason that sand and rock tend to amplify sounds, making a passing train too loud. For sidings where you will always be running at slow speed, that's no problem, but on a mainline it can really make a lot of noise.

[THayman]

Those sound like great ideas too! It's amazing how many alternatives there are that you won't find talk about in Model Railroader (they go for the absolute best). I personaly try to find any good looking alternatives so my money can go towards rolling stock and locomotives. It's good to know others think the same way. Oh, and another thing. Try using typical toy cars instead of high quality model ones. It's easy to add details and make them look incredibly real.
-Tim
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VIA RULES!

[MAbruce]

One word of caution for using gravel and sand. Make sure it's "clean", meaning free of iron. I've been told that you can tell by taking a magnet and run it through the materal to see if iron shavings stick to it. If so, I would recommend finding something else because it can be bad for your locomotives (the electric motors inside).

[Anonymous]

I have used kitty litter as well with great success. The brand I had had to be sifted though to get the right size, but it was still well worth it. The colour is perfect and it glues extremenly well.

[cacole]

For HO scale, I use Cat's Pride (CP) litter, which comes in a large plastic jug and is available at most Wal-mart and Safeway stores. The biggest difference between CP and other brands of cat litter is that CP is made from Kaolin clay and does not swell up when wet. It is in grains small enough to resemble ballast for HO scale, and can be glued down with the typical 50/50 white glue mix. CP is made by Oil Dri Corporation, and can also be used to clean up oil spills, which is their main business.

[Anonymous]

Maybe this is just what we need! A forum listing budget and economical ideas and sources, or even great sales at online retailers. I know a lot of you talk about trying to save your hard earned dough, so a little probing in the right direction might be a good thing.
Thanks for the tip, THayman!!
Tim

[THayman]

For those who don't like spending large amounts of money on small parts of their layout, such as ballast, or those who are too far away from a hobby shop (like me!), here's an easy alternative- dollarama. They, as many craft shops, sell containers of exteremely fine gravel in a variety of colours excellant for ballast for a dollar each. I have done all of my ballast using a black variety, and it looks great. You can also find other assets for your railroad there, such as lichen, all for a dollar. Think about it.
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VIA RULES!