Login
or
Register
Subscriber & Member Login
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Login
Register
Home
»
Model Railroader
»
Forums
»
General Discussion (Model Railroader)
»
Best Method for Weathered Realistic Track?
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
Seeing as no answer so far to Q for help above... here's some copied stuff from my files... <br /> <br />I don't think that any one has said... <br /> <br />All the main Nickel Silver Rail makes are pretty much ok... you can pretty much mix them together. <br /> <br />BUT... if you mix rail size... code 100 in your staging tracks and code 83 in the scenic bit (or diferent rail sizes between main and yards... <br /> <br />YOU MUST... ensure that the top of the rail head is at the same height (and will stay there) at the joins. <br /> <br />I've seen short lengths of conversion track in Walther's catalogue. You can also shim the lower height track up to meet the higher. <br /> <br />You ALSO get differences in tie thickness between makes (and maybe within some makes between grades). This means that you have to take the same action to avoid problems. <br /> <br />I would put a length (More than a loco/longest car) between any rail /tie height change and any switch or diamond.... it would keep life more simple. <br /> <br />Nearer what you're looking for... <br /> <br />Why are you mixing such different colours of ballast? <br />It could happen... but usually a RR would get all of it's ballast in any one area from pretty much one source. <br />Ballast is HEAVY so it is usually only moved as far as it has to be. <br />It might come from a number of quarries but these wold be likely to be in much the same rock type unless you are in an area of very variable geology... you might get a mix of something like a hard limestone with a volcanic intrusion nearby... but I don't know US geology (It's hard enough working out which way round your country is... we (well I) think north-south... the USA goes an awful long way east-west). <br />Another possibility is a shift from furnace slag ballast to limestone. This would be blue/black to white becoming grey.... but the blue black could be all sorts of colours including red depending on the origin of the slag. <br /> <br />I'm not saying you're wrong... just trying to help out with detail. The first issue with all ballast colour is where the rock came from... in modern track. You'd pretty much have to go back before 1900 to get other than rock ballast unless the line was very cheap/broke, temporary or (maybe) serving a quarry/mine and using tailings. <br /> <br />I suggest that you look back through my earlier posts. <br /> <br />I like the notes on weathering ballast. <br /> <br />may I suggest... <br /> <br />1. Decide on what your new ballast colour would be... depending on source... look at <br />any examples of new work on your favourite road and in any MoW cars. <br />A. Then decide what way the colour is going to develop over time...events... and... <br />2. Decide if there have been any big changes ... i.e. material type/colour. <br />3. Decide how old the ballast is. <br />a. Heavier use/more profitable lines get re-ballasted more often. <br />NOTE... a massive hauler would have massive track... you don't want to put a <br />Challenger in the dirt... so, subject to getting in between the trains the big coal roads <br />had very highly maintained clean, well graded track. <br />b. Some lines almost never get re-ballasted... and the track may be pretty awful. <br />4. Decide how (if) re-ballasting has occurred. <br />a. Has it been cleaned right out and completely replaced? <br />This can happen on plain track but espescially happens when any major <br />alteration is made... like changing a grade, putting in an new bridge (usually <br />under rather than over)... this may include re-aligning a grade... when a <br />diamond is taken out, when switches are altered (including replaced), when a <br />major change in traffic (e.g. Powder basin coal) brings both sudden new <br />prosperity and weight of traffic, when a line is brought back into traffic, when an <br />adjacent or alternate route is abandoned (upgrading your route may be needed <br />and/or part of the deal... savings from the dead route may help pay for it... where <br />there has been a washout or landslide. .... where track type has been <br />changed... e.g. a change to concrete ties. A change in rail weight... usually <br />applies with traffic change. <br />b. Has it been taken out, cleaned and topped up... with other cleaned or new material? <br />This could apply in most of the above cases. New material is much more <br />common (here) than recycled... most recycled material goes to the construction <br />industry as hard base material for things like car parks... I suspect that far too <br />much of the original ballast has been worn down below the required size... it <br />may have become to "flakey" and not have a long enough anticipated life for the <br />work to pay off. <br />c. Has it just been topped up with new? (Was this from the same source)? <br />Top ups may have been regular (not necessarily frequent) or random. They <br />may be patches, short lengths or long runs. just to add interest they may be <br />different across the track... if material is being lost on one side... again one <br />side may need cleaning out more often... in the days before machine ballasting <br />it was less work/cost to maintain as required than to shift the whole lot out... <br />this means a difference in ballast by era. Gangs of men could strip out and <br />replace as required a machine sweeps the whole works. <br />5. So ballasting can have been - <br />almost never... yeuky mud coloured track <br />occasional.... frequent... layers or patches of difference <br />regular to a clear pattern... may be quite clear distinction between older and newer <br />material colours blended together or new stuff sitting on top of old... the new may be <br />in patches or strips (depending on how it was shoveleed out, tipped or run out of <br />hoppers) <br />a major change... either a clean or a replacement... this shows up best as a clean <br />break where the old stuff ends and the new work begins... this may be a patch or a <br />long run. <br />Large new works usually start from a clear feature:- <br />a milepost <br />one line in multiple lines <br />on three track this may be repeated with three bands of ballast (and others in <br />yards alongside) <br />junctions / switches <br />these work two ways... the junction or switch may have the work done and not <br />the plain line or vice versa. With machine worked track there is usually a gap <br />between the feature and the start of work ... this is often about the machine <br />length. <br />Diamonds will be done clear of the rail bars and possibly a rail length each <br />side where the work runs through one route or all four ways round where just the <br />diamond has been done. This is to make the diamond as stable as possible <br />and reduce bad ride in all directions... if a train crossing on one route is causing <br />damage it will distort the track on the other route. <br />Crossovers may be worked on one track or both... the one track work may be for <br />a short interval.... or the whole crossover plus a length or two each side may have <br />been done... ... and I haven't even touched on changing all or part of the rails of <br />switches. <br /> <br />So you can see that, like your highway after the utility people have been around a few times, the track ballast can be pretty patchy. <br /> <br />The thing is to work out the story you want to picture in your ballast. <br /> <br />The yards will be one story (or sets of stories) <br />Sidings, loops etc may be another bunch of distinct histories... a loop holding sand hoppers regularly may have a distinct strip of sand from leaking hopper doors... again you may have a big spill patch where a car has derailed or been side-swiped - usually near/at a switch- On older layouts there would be interesting effects on roads that held livestock trains... livestock needed feeding and disinfecting... weeds could be encouraged. Grain cars also spill... <br />Then you get to your main track(s)... what has been going on... over 50 -20- 10 - 5 - 2 - this year? <br /> <br />THERE IS A BIG ISSUE about spills ... especially on main tracks... the loads are supposed to get to the consignee and fuel is supposed to go up the stack NOT onto the track. Gearbox oil doesn't maintain the loco if it's on the ballast. Mucky deposits ONLY develop where there is heavy traffic over time... so... in loco yards, where locos idlle for long periods or where cars either stand as warehousing or get banged about (to shake dust out... as a by-product of switching not deliberately). <br /> <br />Then ther'es atmospheric pollution... look at the crud on your auto if you park near a big industrial plant... multiply that by 10s or 100s for plant and period and the track in some areas got blended to dark grey with everything else in some areas... in others the weeds came in. <br /> <br />What makes cleaning / replacement necessary is the infiltration of other matter and the degradation of the ballast material. <br /> <br />From a modelling point of view... once you've worked out your history... you want to choose your ballast colour(s)... assuning that you will use a few and then weather... you lay the oldest (usually darkest) first and then build up. Later you add the weathering. <br />A Black oil patch will show up much more on new ballast... but it will be much more distinct and localised. (and new ballast - a repair - will stand out like crazy in a heavily soiled length of track... possibly where the track became so clogged it wasn't draining and began to "pump" under locos and cars and has therfore been dug out and repaired... this especially occurs around rail joints.... which are a whole different subject... but look at film - especially of passenger yards in the bad days... the worst vertical track movement is almost always at rail joints... which are the weakest part of the track... almost like having a hinge in the middle of a bridge. <br />On old track (maybe in a yard) a white, yellow or red sand spill will show up... again in a distinct pattern... was the spill a big dump and largely cleaned up? Did it slop over the end of an over filled car? has a car with a bad door run through a few times? <br /> <br />These are all ways that you can build up the picture that your layout is painting... they say as much as the micro-scenes with a fender bender or a cop pulling a truck over. <br /> <br />Like my writing... they can go on adding forever... <br /> <br />Wherever maintenace is needed, in progress or recently done... or where only one side of a crossover has been completed... Slow Orders may be in force... <br />The slow order may be on either track of the crossover or both... depending... <br />You can have a track in need of work slow ordered next to a track that has just been worked but not finalised that is slow ordered. <br />This means that you can have a reason for all trains... including hotshots... to run slowly through your layout. If you have multiple track (2 upwards) you can slow order some and not others. There are always slow down and speed up zones either side of slow orders. <br /> <br />This gives you more time to enjoy your trains... also if you can only fit in a short run (so there is no way for an intermodal to get up to speed) you have a reason for traffic to run slowly... other than building a switching layout. <br /> <br />Whenever work is going to be done, is ongoing or has been largely completed there will be signs of material and machines being prepared for the job, standing by or waiting to be removed... sometimes old ballast as well as old ties and rail are left dumped for some time (defered maintenance...forever). <br /> <br />The best thing, if you can, is to go and look at the real thing SAFELY and work out what has been going on in the area you are looking at... it's a sleuthing job. <br /> <br />Then there is always litter that gets into/onto ballast... especially near fast food joints... <br /> <br />If this is good tell me and I'll dig out more :-)
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Subscriber & Member Login
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Login
Register
Users Online
There are no community member online
Search the Community
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter
See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter
and get model railroad news in your inbox!
Sign up