While the folks above are right -- don't use too much, there's another factor. Sometimes, if you don't wet it properly, it FLOATS up there when you put the adhesive on. After pushing the excess ballast out of the way with a stiff bristled brush and taping the rails as above, I wet the ballast with a mixture of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the strength you buy it in, generally) and dilute it 1:1 with water, for an end strength of 35% alcohol. I dribble this mixture on the ties, where it both washes stray ballast off and wicks into all the other ballast.
Then I dribble the adhesive on the ties again, so that no ballast washes or floats up on to the ties. I can ballast many feet of track and not get more than a grain or two of ballast out of place.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
selector Pour in a bunch.
Pour in a bunch.
Less is more.
Alton Junction
With a medium-stiff artist's brush about 12 mm wide, spread the ballast down the rails until almost all of it is distributed fairly nicely and cleanly except for the stuff stuck up against the rail web and some grains still on top of the ties.
Take hold of the brush end and tap the rails here and there with the handle of the brush. Use a wooden dowel if you wish. The few grains that are still misplaced will move off to join the others by about the fifth or sixth tap. Repeat as necessary, and use a toothpick to flick off the annoying ones that just won't move on with their lives.
Crandell
Modelling HO Scale with a focus on the West and Midwest USA
I agree with Bob. You are putting down too much ballast. Less is more.
Rich
My experiece was that at first I put too much ballast between the rails. IMO less is more. Tapping the rail will cause a lot of it to pop off and then you can finish the job of clearing the ties. I prefer using a small foam brush that has been cut to fit between the rails.
It all starts with not using too much ballast.
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up