Prototypical Ballast

[orsonroy]

Actually, railroads ususlly don't use "local rock" for ballast. Usually, they've got a contract with 1-2 quarries to provide them with all their ballast needs. Most typically, this means a limestone quarry someplace online (so it will be local to some area of the line), but there are some major exceptions which make the ballast glaringly out of place. The C&NW's "pink lady" granite ballast is probably the most famous of these out of place rock colors (pink lady was from northern Wisconsin, but was used throughout the line).

So it's usually best if you follow some prototype examples. Mainline ballast is almost always some sort of grey rock, light or dark, with sidings usually being slag, cinders, or other waste aggregate.

If you think the grey you've used to ballast is too light, pretty and "clean", add a light wash of thinned india ink to the ballast once it's in. Remember to make the ballast inside the rails darker than the ballast outside, since that's where any drippings accumulate. Also remember to LIGHTEN the ballast on grades, since that's where engines use sand a lot (sand is white, and can REALLY accumulate and lighten roadbed color). Also remember that railroads have "ballast washers", so try not to make the ballast TOO dark.

As for size, I always use Woodland Scenics fine. In N scale, it's actually a little large, but works for mainline ballast in HO just fine. WS medium and large ballasts are too big for almost anything but large scales.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE-Toronto 24/5/05
Removed the old coarse brown/dark brown ballast. Laid medium buff ballast down on siding. HATED IT!!![:(!] Even my 6 yead old thought it looked bad. Then I sucked that up with the vaccuum. Now what?

I had a small amount of light grey med/fine mix. I poured six inched of that on the siding and brushed it into place. It looked pretty good. Not all grainy or chunky like the straight medium and coarse of previous attempts. Only issue I have with it is that IMHO it's too light. I'm thinking now that maybe a med/fine mix of grey might look best.

It's off to the LHS to buy some more ballasting supplies. Wish me luck.

Trevor[:)]

[Medina1128]

Instead of removing it, I would have painted it. There's a light tan camouflage that comes in a rattle can that you can buy at walmart. After it's been down a couple of weeks, it actually lightens.

[pcarrell]

the ballest should be about the size that an HO sized guy can almost close his fist around. Have fun figuring out how to measure that.

No, really, just kidding!

I think that it is OK if the ballest is slightly on the small side as this aids in forced perception. I know, it's a small thing, but if you are going to use a little forced perception on your layout to make it's apparent length longer then you need to use that same concept on every part of the scenery, except maybe the extreme forground, in order to provide the viewer with a balanced picture. It's the little things that many novice modelers overlook, and that is what makes the things that they are doing correctly sometimes look a little out of place.

As far as the color, I think your decision to switch was a good one.

As far as being a little on the small side, I would have to say IMHO that it may be a blessing in disguise.

P. Carrell
Autumn's Ridge Railway & Navigation Co.

[Anonymous]

Long day Saturday on the layout...and disappointing results...[V]

I had laid approximately 10 feet of ballast on my layout so far. It was a mixture of brown and dark brown in a coarse size. I've had this ballast on my layout for a few weeks,and I liked it fine. (You can see the ballast in this picture)


Then I started colouring the surrounding mountains. That's where the trouble started. Long story short, the surrounding mountains feature beige coloured rocks (Woodland Scenics Earth Colors Liquid Pigment-Earth Undercoat...you can also see this in the picture). Since ballast is typically made from local rock I thought in hindside that either the mounatins should be more brown, or the ballast should be more buff. And since it would be easier to change the ballast than the mountains I decided to change the ballast. Also, not only did I feel that the colour was off, but I felt that perhaps coarse grade ballast was too big.

So I spent a couple hours yesterday removing the existing 10 feet of ballast. Not an easy job! Thankfully it was only 10 feet... Once that was done, I installed new ballast on a 2 foot long section of track. Medium Buff.

While I think the colour is great, I'm not so sure about the size. That is to say I think the ballast may now be too small. I'm so confused!!![%-)]

My layout is HO scale wilh code 100 nickel silver track /w black ties. What size ballast should I be using?

I'd like to know I have the right size before continuing. I don't want to have to remove more ballast. Help me out of my pickle here guys![D)]

Thanks,
Trevor