Tips for ballasting switches ? (completed pics added)

[ukguy]

Hello to all, over the weekend (pretty much ALL weekend [xx(] ) I finished laying track on my upper level, installed all my under table switches (theres only 8) and spent many an hour wiring the switches and track so that I can run it the way I want to, (wish I had known that electrofrogs had arrived since I was seven, would have saved a whole lot of time,headaches and wire isolating my sidings and enabling me to run a double loop I only have DC currently)

Anyway, enough whining, I have started ballasting the upper layer and I am concerned about gluing my newly installed switches in one position. How do I stop this, I am ballasting in what I believe (I'm new at this) is the common way, ie: lay ballast, spray with wet water and drizzel on 50/50 glue water. I dont really want to stay up all night to 'jiggle the switches every 5 min to keep them loose (although I have spent several 'all-nighters' MRR'ing lately [:D] )

Any help, advice and pointers gratefully accepted, meanwhile I am heading back to the track to ballast the rest and I'll leave the switches till the end.

Have fun,
Karl.

[Don Gibson]

Play it safe. Keep the ballast away from point's an other moving parts.

[Anonymous]

I just do not add ballast to the inside of the rails. I do the outside. It still looks good. You do not have to have ballast all over it to look good.

[soumodeler]

I lay the ballast down inside, but only glue down the ballast on the outside.

soumodeler
-----------------
The Southern Serves the South!
http://www.trainweb.org/mgr

[jfugate]

I discuss this in my ballasting and weathering track article I sent to MR.

For turnout points, you want to do like the prototype does and make sure the ballast is well below the tie tops in the points area. And no ballast right next to the throwbar.

Next, I mix a 50:50 mixture of glue to water and put several drops of dish detergent in it as a wetting agent.

I wet the ballast down with 70% isopopyl alcohol.

I apply the glue solution with an eye dropper (gives me precise control as to placement of the glue) and am careful not to over saturate the points area with glue (unlike ballasting normal track). If anything, I want to err on the side of undersaturating the points area with glue. You can always come back later for a second shot of glue in any lose spots.

I'll often do the points area in 2 passes, one side of the points area in one pass, and then the other side in the other pass. I find that if I'm doing several turnouts at once, I can keep busy moving around between turnouts and do two passes efficiently.

Once I'm all done, if it looks like *any* glue migrated to the throwbar itself, I'll soak it good with a shot of alcohol to dilute and wash away the glue.

The let it all dry overnight.

Once in a while, a throwbar may be a bit sticky the next day, but a little tug will often free it and things will work as good as new. If the thowbar is the least bit balky, I'll hit it with a couple shots of Kadee greasem graphite and that will fix it.

Been doing turnout ballasting this way on the Siskiyou Line for 14 years, and haven't had any turnout ruined yet.

[Sperandeo]

Hi Karl,

I can feel your pain, and believe me if I never have to deal with another turnout stuck solid from ballast that will be soon enough. Here's my advice:

1. Paint the roadbed under the turnout the same color as your ballast, especially under the points and switch rod (what model railroaders call the "throw bar," though there's no such thing on a real switch). This will help with the next tip. Also, you can cut or sand a little slot or depression in the roadbed under the switch rod, so there won't be anything there for you to glue the switch rod to.

2. Use very little ballast, the least amount you think you can get by with. Especially under the points and around the switch rod you want the ballast layer to be as thin as possible. If there are bare spots when you're done, the ballast-colored paint will help to hide them. Besides, you can always add a little more ballast if you really need to, but it's much tougher to take it away once it's glued.

3. Wet the ballast with a spray of rubbing alcohol, which soaks in better than anybody's "wet water" solution.

4. Dribble on white glue dilluted with three or four parts water to one part glue. The 50:50 mixture that's often recommended is part of the problem, and the thinner solution will be enough to hold the ballast if it spreads out well – the alcohol helps this a lot. But apply the glue with a medicine dropper or (my favorite) a small white glue bottle, and try to put it only where you really need it. Especially keep glue away from the switch rod.

Let the turnouts set for 24 hours and see how they work. You may have to give some of the points a harder pu***han you'd like to free them up, but you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Then look over your turnouts very carefully and decide if there's anywhere you want to add a little more ballast. You can repeat the process as often as necessary, but as you do try to practice a really light touch.

Some people like to put a little oil on switch points and stock rails to keep them from getting glued together, and that can help as long as the oil doesn't run or seep away to where it's not needed.

Good luck,

Andy

[Anonymous]

For the turnouts, I use an eye-dropper or pipette to place diluted white glue between the ties, being VERY careful not to get glue on the tops of the ties or the rail. I do only a few ties at a time. Then place the ballast with equal care. I use slightly less ballast than for "ordinary" track so the ballast remains below the bottom of the moving point rails. Then I operate the switch a few times just to make sure; sometimes I need to remove a bit of the ballast at this point. Its tedious - takes half an hour or more per turnout - but I've never had any "sticky" turnouts.

[ukguy]

Thanks for all the great advice guys, I got them done and here are a few pics to show you how they came out, sorry about the pic quality.

(My layout is hinged/counterbalanced to store vertically against the workshop wall so not gluing was not an option unfortunately.)

Now on to weathering the rails and adding the 'oil' down the centre as per jfugate's excellent thread.





Have fun & be safe.
Karl.

[jfugate]

Karl:

Great photos! Thanks for posting the results, and happy to help.