Lost with ballast

[Anonymous]

I am now trying to ballast my track, and right now its just a big mess. I am using the paint brush method and it doesnt look right. My flex track is on the foam roadbed. any suggestions or comments will be very helpful right now!![?][:D]

[selector]

Without pictures, it is hard to help, but...

Would you please try to describe what you have done? Tell us exactly what you see and how you got there.

The track will look good ballasted if the roadbed is not too high, or not too thin, and has angled shoulders that are right at the outer edges of the ties. Pouring the ballast so that it just covers the shoulders and falls naturally at the lower edge of the roadbed should look good. Then, you just very gently and lightly whisk the artist's paint brush (not a fence paint brush?) along the axis of the railway, inside the rails, to clean off the ties, and level the ballast inside the tracks so that your air hoses and wheel flanges don't snag. The ballast that covers the ties outside of the rails can be whisked off with strokes that run along the ties toward the outer edge. If you do it too aggressively, the ballasting will begin to look ragged.

As soon as you have glued it, and before it has dried, run a piece of rolling stock over the area to clear the flange path of ballast that gets left against the rails from the gluing action.

[bikerraypa]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 0221

I am now trying to ballast my track, and right now its just a big mess. I am using the paint brush method and it doesnt look right. My flex track is on the foam roadbed. any suggestions or comments will be very helpful right now!![?][:D]

I have an illustrated page for this at:

http://www.westernallegheny.com/modelrr/index.html

just click on the ballasting guide link.


Ray out

[2021]

When I pour ballast, I use a folded sheet of paper for better control. Do small sections at a time (three to four feet max) and smooth with a fairly stiff brush. Make sure your ties are clean of ballast (easier said than done when you start to glue the ballast down - but if you're careful very little will lift up). You can clean the ties by rubbing once it dries but hasn't harden real firm. I pat down the shoulders with the side of the bru***o give a finished look. Put on the wetting agent (either wet water or alcohol) and slowly add your thinned white glue. I pour along the inside and outside rail edges to avoid a tell-take line down the middle of the track. Hope this helps.
P.S. - couldn't help but notice your log name since it's so similar to mine. You must have used the last four digits of your phone number like I did.
Ron K. -

[Javern]

here is a link to some ballasting tips

http://www.ukrecmodelsrail.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=1&categories=Ballasting+The+Track

[bogp40]

Most tend to have the greatest problem when wetting the ballast. After placing the ballast with the brush, find a very good spray bottle that has adjustable spray. Start by only misting and let rain down. Can't spray directly at the ballast. Once it starts to get wet, you can start to spray a bit heavier until ready to secure with glue. Experiment w/ the wet water ratios of water/ alcohol and even with the glue 50/50 mix.
I find that I have to adjust my techniques even when using a different type of ballast or doing flex or handlaid. Trial and error and experience will give you your technique. You may find tricks that make it easier that you can share with us.
Bob K.

[Anonymous]

Good techniques one and all.

I've used a mixture of water, white glue, alcohol, and detergent to both wet down and secure the ballast, and dripped it on with either an eye dropper of a labratory squirt bottle. My mixture is "about":

Water 60%
White glue 20%
Alcohol 20%
Detergent 3 or 4 drops

You may also want to consider putting the track on top of cork or something similar to increase the height of the "ballasted" area and the visibility of the overall ballast. Most all track is on a raised ballast from the surrounding elevation of the area (for proper drainage). The areas that typically are not "obviously raised" are yards.

Mark in Utah

[challenger3802]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mark_in_utah

Most all track is on a raised ballast from the surrounding elevation of the area (for proper drainage).

And (in Britain) if you can get up close to the lineside, it's possible to see that one running line is about a foot higher than the other to prevent trains from striking one another as they pass.

Ian

[jkeaton]

Usually that sort of vertical separation is between a heavily ballasted, high speed mainline, and a lower speed siding (or loop as they say in Britain). As the two tracks have to be spaced to allow two train cars of the maximum clearance diagram for the line to pass each other - and the British clearance diagram, like the North American one, has vertical sides - I don't think the difference in vertical height has anything to do with preventing trains from hitting one another. Certainly the two tracks of the mainlines around Oxford and Birmingham are not ballasted to different heights (or they weren't in 1989, the last time I was there).

Jim