Ballast removal (new)

[mike33469]

What is the best or easiest way to remove excess ballast from between the rails prior to gluing? 

[NP01]

I use the brush and bares hands method. But I am stingy with ballast ($10 per bottle!) so I have to cover bare spots of cork more than I have to remove excess. 

[cowman]

Try not to have too much ballast on the tracks as you near the final point you want to ballast.  If it is already there you could make a "dust pan" to fit between the rails, boxboard or tinfoil should work, if you plan to use it a lot, make one out of styrene.  Another thought, sweep the ballast into a teaspoon with the brush you spread it with, should get rid of most of it.

Good luck,

Richard

[kasskaboose]

The cheap craft brush works well also to move the excess ballast out of the area.  You can then pick it up as others wrote with a spoon or sheet of paper that's curved to pour elsewhere.

[wp8thsub]

Work in a small area.  Apply a few inches of ballast between the rails and then brush to remove excess before repeating the process on the next few inches of track.  Learn to control application so you get just about the right amount down every time, and there will be less to brush.  

I usually do between rails first, allowing some of the excess to be brushed to the outside, then finish around the ends of the ties last.  Using that sequence prevents excess ballast from messing up anything I've applied outside the rails.

Once the ballast is applied and dressed with a brush, try tapping the rail gently with the brush handle.   This can vibrate the last stray ballast off the rails and ties before wetting and gluing.

[dknelson]

I take a scrap piece of cork roadbed and trim it so that it fits exactly between the rails, and run it over and over so that the excess ballast is pushed to a place where I can brush it onto a piece of cardstock for eventual re-use.  I do the same with the ends of the ties  outside the rails.  I also use that cork as  a "tamper" to really push the ballast down to the tops of the ties.  I have tried the various brush methods but to my taste they leave to many isolated grains of ballast where I do not want them.  The cork really acts like a bulldozer.

Dave Nelson

[selector]

dknelson

...  I have tried the various brush methods but to my taste they leave to many isolated grains of ballast where I do not want them...

Dave Nelson

 

As Rob mentioned just previously to your post, tapping the rails gently with the wooden handle of the same paint brush actually does a pretty decent job of encouraging the stray grains to join their compadres where you want 'em.  I use that technique myself.

[riogrande5761]

And any excess I just fold a piece of paper and brush it on like a make-shift dust pan for re-use or re-distribution.

[BroadwayLion]

You pick them up one at a time with a tweezer.

 

ROAR

[superbe]

I use a foam paint brush cut to fit inside the rails. The tappered side is good for forming the ballast on the outside of the rails.

Bob

 

[Anonymous]

If you hand-lay, you can put the ties down first, then ballast, then gently sand the ballast off the top of the ties, then install the rail.

[BATMAN]

I have been known to use painters tape to pick up loose ballast. If you are a really frugal type you can then pull the tape along under a paint scraper to get your bits back.