Ballast

[Anonymous]

Could someone please direct me to a source for help with ballasting my n-scale layout? I am new to model railroading and have been unable to find a decent step-by-step guide for how to do this properly. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Joel

[jhugart]

Here's what I've done. I don't recall if I saw this in a particular book, but it's my amalgamation of different sources. I also work in N.

Materials:

• The finest grade of Woodland Scenics ballast.
• A narrow paintbrush with a flat bottom. This is for putting the ballast in place.
• Small spikes or nails for temporarily securing the track.
• A household sprayer of wet water - just fill with tap water then add a 2 or 3 drops of dishwashing liquid, and shake it gently, then set aside.
• A 1-to-1 mixture of white or yellow glue and water.
• An eyedropper.
• A small spoon, like a teaspoon, or folded cardstock.

Method:

Get your track in place. I'm assuming you've got the benchwork and subroadbed done. If you want cork or foam under the track, that's fine. (I prefer cork, and nail it in place so I have a good reference.) This is the time to paint any ties or rail for things like rust or weathering.

If you have turnouts (switches) in your layout, put black electrical tape on their underside and press-on the ballst in a box, to catch the excess. Remove anything that would cause problems in the switch points or flangeways. Once this is done, put the turnouts on the laytout and do the rest of the track.

You could glue the track down, but the glue used in securing the ballast will probably do this for you. Just use spikes or something that will hold the track to the roadbed for a while, and that you can remove later.

Do any soldering of feeder wires at this point.

Using the cardstock or spoon, place a small amount of ballast between the rails of a section of track. (Consider practicing on a siding to get a feel for this.) Don't worry it if is on top of the ties/sleepers, you will use the small bru***o spread the ballast back and forth so it is level with the tops of the ties.

Some ballast may leak out under the rails to the sides of the track. That's fine.

Add more ballast to the sides, and use the bru***o smooth it out to get the contour you want.

Spend this effort on about a foot or two at a time. Doing more is like layout out dominoes...one jostle and the whole thing can turn into a mess.

Now you've got the ballast LOOKING right, it is time to glue it down.

First, use the sprayer of wet water. Spray it in the air, a couple of feet above the track. Spraying at the track will cause the ballast to scatter. You want the equivalent of rain falling as mist from above. If the water balls up on the ballast, you don't have enough dish washing liquid in the water. The detergent changes the surface tension of the water so it flows instead of making little balls.

Don't worry about using too much; the idea is to saturate the ballast so it won't ball up when you apply the glue. You'll know you are using too much when the ballast starts to run in the stream of wet water flowing off the track.

Using the eyedropper, drop one drop of the glue/water solution between each pair of ties. This is both in between the rails and outside the rails. It may seem like a lot, but all this glue will dry and hold the track and ballast in place.

When you drop the glue solution in place, you will see this white stuff pooling all over. Don't worry about it, it will dry clear.

Continue laying ballast, spraying it with wet water, and dripping glue onto it.

Let it sit for overnight at least, a few days preferably. When you come back, the ballast should be dry and firm, almost like a rubber compound. If a gentle rub with your finger produces ballast crumbling off, the glue solution was too thin; thicken it a bit and try the wet-water and glue process again.

When the stuff is dry and stable, remove the pins or spikes holding the track in place. The ballast and dried glue solution should keep it firm, even if you used flex track.

Use a track cleaner (Brite Boy, fine grit sandpaper) to sand the top of the track clean, and use a magnet or compressed air to eliminate the dust. Test run your trains, and you should be good to go.

Feel free to e-mail me with questions.

[Sperandeo]

Hello Joel,

I do about the same thing as Jacob, except that I use rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol instead of "wet" water, and I thin the white glue a lot more, four parts water to one part glue. The alcohol does a better job of penetrating the ballast without disturbing it, and the thinner glue will flow into the wet ballast more readily. You might also want to see "Better N scale tracklaying tenchniques," by Scott Seekins, in the Kalmbach book, "Trackwork and Lineside Detail for your Model Railroad."

Happy Thanksgiving,

Andy