ballast materials for HO gauge

[Anonymous]

I am building a HO scale layout. I have approximately 75 feet of track to ballast. Two questions: How much Woodland Scenics ballast would I need for this, and what size ballast (fine, medium, or coarse) works best for HO gauge?
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

how much I don't know, your lhs may help with that, but go with fine ballast, real ballast fits in the palm of your hand, the other sizes are too large

[Anonymous]

I don't know how much you will need either but I used a mix of fine and medium.....should have just the fine. The Woodland Scenics medium jusst looks too big to me.

[Anonymous]

I do not know how much you will need.
I use kitty litter. It is a lot cheaper and looks the same to me.

[twcenterprises]

I use Woodland Scenics Fine ballast in the medium grey, mixed half and half with real gravel sifted to about the same size. I run the real stuff under a strong magnet to remove any magnetic junk, and check for any loose trash. Sometimes the WS material has an occasional large chunk, maybe a dozen pieces in a 1 pound bag. If you don't want to use the real stuff, or just too lazy to go get some, then use the fine light grey/medium grey mix, or get both colors and mix your own. I would get maybe 1 pound of mix, or 1 pound each of 2 colors, and see if that's enough. A little goes a long way.

Brad

[richhotrain]

I just finished ballasting my double mainline with Woodland Scenics ballast. I used medium ballast on the advice of a layout landscaping pro and it looks great. The fine ballast is too small and only looks good on N scale.

A 32 oz. shaker bottle covers 16 linear feet of double mainline. If you are ballasting a single track, figure 32 linear feet. That coverage includes ballast between the rails and about 1/2 inch of coverage on the outside of the rails on both sides, tapering down to the ground.

I used a 50/50 combination of grey and light grey and it looks very prototypical. I would not mix fine and medium together because the fine seems to settle to the bottom of the mix rather than blending in with the medium.

On the turnouts, I used a 50/50 fine mix of grey and light grey between the rails so that the ballast doesn't interfere with the operation of the turnout rails. However, I still use the medium mix on the outside of the turnouts so that the appearance of the ballast is consistent throughout the layout.

[richhotrain]

Forgot to mention one thing.

Put a few drops of engine oil lubricant (not gear lube) on the throwbar of each turnout before cementing the ballast in place. That will keep the cement from adhering to the throwbar and turnout rails.

Otherwise, you will cement the turnout rails in place and it is no fun trying to loosen them up.

[beegle55]

Kitty litter? Weird but effective I guess. I go with fine and medium. Mix of grey and a little black.

[Bre2tSco2t]

We use WS Medium size ballast. Can't help you with covarage, sorry. I too believe the medium looks best on HO. To me the fine is too small.

I believe this issue / debate is based on what people are use to in their area. The ballast around here, does fit in my hand, but it fills my hand. I have seen tracks ballasted with smaller stuff and out west with sand alone.

So, I suggest taking a piece of your track to a LHS and looking at the fine and medium and see what you like. Because that's all that really matters.

[cacole]

I use a mixture of WS fine buff and medium gray ballast for HO scale code 83 rail. On a club layout with code 100 rail, we use Cat's Pride litter. No other brand of cat litter can be used because most of them swell up and clump when wet, but Cat's Pride is kaolin clay, which does not swell or clump.

[lesterperry]

I use stone dust from local quarry. I go there with a 5 gallon bucket and it is free. It is also the real thing. It will have to be sifted and some say to run a magnet trough it but I don't. I have been doing this for 10 years and no metallic problems. The magnets in locomotives would have to be really strong to pick up metal from that distance plus it is glued down.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lesterperry

I use stone dust from local quarry. I go there with a 5 gallon bucket and it is free. It is also the real thing. It will have to be sifted and some say to run a magnet trough it but I don't. I have been doing this for 10 years and no metallic problems. The magnets in locomotives would have to be really strong to pick up metal from that distance plus it is glued down.

I plan on doing the same. I bought a Set of Sieves (search for SCREEN SIEVES #32910). I go by the Sieve Screen Size Chart to determine the screen mesh size to use for the size rock I want.

[Medina1128]

If you use kitty litter, DON'T use the stuff that clumps. It turns to muck when it gets wet. Don't ask me how I know this. Want a cheaper source of ballast? Go to Wal-Mart and get a couple of tubes of sand. The kind that you put in your truck for weight during winter (well WE do in the midwest). I strain out the big (scale) boulders...

[2021]

I've used both fine and medium and have found the medium more relistic over time. The fine starts to look dusty and gets a solid look. Our clubs' layout is 15 years old and while the new fine ballst is okay, the older leaves much to be desired (take this as a personal opinion only and not as a contrdiction of other comments).

[nucat78]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Medina1128

Go to Wal-Mart and get a couple of tubes of sand. [...] I strain out the big (scale) boulders...

Interesting. I was thinking of art sand because it's clean, uniform and colored, but I've also considered coral sand from the pet shop and plain old beach sand (sifted and cleaned) from Lake Michigan. A few folks advised against the sand because they thought it was more likely to jam the gears, etc (n-scale).

[Anonymous]

Check out materials from Arizona Rock and Mineral. Great variety

[ukguy]

I bought a bag of oil spill clean up grit from walmart for 2.99 used a flour sieve to get the size I wanted and still had the oil spill stuff left to use, gave me a good colour variation instead of the uniformity of WS. I got approx two of the WS shakers full, (which goes along way) from that one bag for 2.99.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nucat78
.... A few folks advised against the sand because they thought it was more likely to jam the gears, etc (n-scale).

I'm one of them. Well, when it comes to using sand blasting sand (silica sand). It's too fine and dusty and someone suggested using it as a load. With that being said, sand is ok for ballast and dirt roads as long as it has been sifted, using the large particles, and completely glued down and loose particles vacuumed up.
Woodlandscenics ballast is made of crushed and dyed wallnut shells. It could have the same effect if a piece gets into the gearbox.

[bogp40]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 2021

I've used both fine and medium and have found the medium more relistic over time. The fine starts to look dusty and gets a solid look. Our clubs' layout is 15 years old and while the new fine ballst is okay, the older leaves much to be desired (take this as a personal opinion only and not as a contrdiction of other comments).

This is a good reason to use a mix. I like the WS fine Light gray 50/50 with Scenic Xpress #30 or #40 natural gray. Not too much salt and pepper look but great for simulating Northeast mainlines.
As to how much, never did a count on the number of bags used. A good portion of our layout is handlaid. A thin layer of play sand is used first as not to use so much of the pricey stuff. This method doesn't work for the low profile of flextrack ties. But the sand is good for areas between tracks and yards for a cheap filler.
Bob K.

[cacole]

I've used ground walnut shell from a gun shop to represent ore loads, and I don't think WS ballast is walnut shell because it is too heavy to be that. A 3-pound coffee can full of ground walnut shell didn't weigh as much as a small bag of WS ballast. I'll see if I can dissect a grain of WS ballast and examine it.

EDIT: It seems that gsetter may be corrrect about WS ballast. I cut a piece open and it is a light tan, woody material. Ground walnut shell is the same color.

[Anonymous]

I use the kittylitter/oil dry. You may not be old enough to know what I talking about next, but to size it I run it through an old sausage grinder that is hand powered. It has the different plates that can be exchanged to change the size of what you are grinding. A little stain or diluted paint can change the color. I also grind up charcoal used in fi***ank filters for coal as loads and ground cover around my engine service facility, dumping area at the power house and coal mine. I think it looks good and is inexpensive.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tweet469

...... I run it through an old sausage grinder that is hand powered. ..... I also grind up charcoal used in fi***ank filters...

Ah Jeff,... if your dinner guest don't show up from now on, it could be because they read your post. [;)]
Oh yea,.. I know what a sausage grinder is, but I had to break up with her. I caught her grinding my buddies sausage too. [:I]

[Anonymous]

i used coarse ballast (grey blend) and i like it

[Anonymous]

Greetings,
Caution with the cat litter. I used cat litter to start and found that it would swell when wet and then when it dried it left a void between the litter and the base. When you pressed down on the litter it would crack and fall away. I bought a 50# sack of what they called composted granet. I sifted through a 1/4 inch hardware cloth first and came up with about 10#s of large stone. I say large because it was about the size of your thumb before hitting it with a hammer ha. The balance i sifted through a flour sifter and this was about the size of med ballast. It is a browni***o red color and looks great on the layout.The larger stuf I use on my garden railroad outside and it packs exceptionally well. Infact hard rains fave no effect on the material and weeds dont grow through it.
By the way, I have about 350 feet to HO and I have about 1/3 of the track ballasted. I am using track in a raised plastic road bed and I ballast to the outside rail. I have used approximately one gallon of ballast so I figure that one $4.00 sack of composted grannet will be more than enough. I have used a little less than a gallon so far.
I buy the granet from a garden supply store.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Neal Melancon

[Anonymous]

highball and arizona rock and minerel rock!(literaly.)