I am thinking what was mentioned above, that the alcohol is interacting with the WS ballast. I will try using the wet water instead of alcohol.
Also has anyone tried brushing a thin layer of glue on the cork to hold the ballast on the sides? I am thinking of trying this and then when I pour the ballast it will have something to hold onto.
Hmmm..
I used the cheapo acrylic artist's paint that you get at Walmart. I painted the ties as the first step after laying the track and proving it. Then I placed beach sand for the ballast, and I also used a 50/50 isopropyl alcohol and water mix to wet the ballast. I dribbled it on, including between the rails. I did not "soak" my ballast, just got the top layer wet to allow the glue to penetrate and to not wash the ballast away.
Once I had glued and allowed the mixture to dry, I found no appreciable or discernible difference in my ties. So, it must be an interaction between the paint substrate and the alcohol or the glue....something about that combination.
If you don't mind a suggestion, try Joe Fugate's weathering powder between the rails and you will find the effect you have derived much less bothersome.
I suspect that the alcohol interacted with the paint. Some people use it to weather buildings for just that reason.
Instead of alcohol, soak it with "wet water," a few drops of dishwashing liquid in a container of tap water. Some people spray this on, but I prefer to apply it with an eyedropper. For one thing, it doesn't get all over the place, and for another, it doesn't blast the ballast with a jet of air and move it all over the place.
Oh, and good move for starting your ballasting efforts in a tunnel. Doctors bury their mistakes - model railroaders scenic over them!
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
BTW, I grew up in Oxnard and taught a Moorpark College back in the late 80's.
Sounds like you are doing it right, your dismay is that you will have to touch up your ties. Typically there would be an oil stain that ran through the center of your track so that will take care of most of the problem. I like to touch up the ties anyway and make them slightly different colors so a few gray ones are not bad.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I went ahead and did some ballasting over the weekend where a tunnel is going on the layout. I took the time to paint the track and when I applied the ballast, now my ties are all the light gray instead of the brown that they were painted. The procedure I used is noted below.
pour and shape the ballast on the shoulders and between the track.
brush ballast off ties and rails.
soak with 91% alcohol
glue with 50% water, 50% white glue and couple of drops of dishwshing liquid.
Luckily this is a small area and if I need to hand paint the ties then that is ok, I just do not want to hand paint the entire layout.
any hints or tips welcome.
Thank you,
Jeff