Ballasting switches - September MR

[Glen1]

In the latest MR, Terry Thompson describes a method for "ballasting" switches in which he paints the roadbed near the points instead of ballasting the entire switch.

I really don't understand what his problem is with switches and I'd hate to see modelers that are about to ballast track for the first time being mislead about it. Essentially, there's no difference in ballasting switches as opposed to regular track as long as you keep a couple of things in mind. All of my switches are ballasted and they work fine.

The only problem you're likely to run into if you don't pay a little more attention to the area around the points is fouling them with ballast. So, what do you do?

First, don't "dump" ballst into the area around the points. Work slowly, building up the ballast a little at a time.

You may have your own method, but I like to use the handle of a jewelers size screwdriver to lightly tap the rails. It bounces excess ballast off the ties and base of the rails and helps settle everything. It's the modelers equivalent of a tamper, used on real railrods.

When you're satisfied that things look right, try moving the points. If they move freely and the point rails close agisnt the outside rails, fine. If not, clean up the offending pices of ballast. Once you're happy with things go ahead and mist the area and apply your water and glue mixture.

When everything has dried, go back and check again. If any ballast has managed to get in the way of the points, it's a simple matter to chip it away.

And that should be it. A little extra effort parhaps, but I'm sure you'll be happy you ballasted the entire switch.

[jfugate]

I would add that like the prototye, the ballast should be well below the tie tops in the area of the points.

If you do that then yes, not a big deal. I just use an eye dropper to be very deliberate about where I place my wetting agent and glue. Oh yes, and the points area glue mixture is 2:1 water to glue instead of 3:1 like I use everywhere else.

The thicker glue mixture helps keep it from seeping into places I don't want it to go.

[BRAKIE]

Heres the method I use.

First I  dump and spread the ballast.

 

 

 

Then I "tamp" the ballast into place making sure the  points are clear and the ballast is below the tie.  I then use a eye dropper to apply the glue.I use my standard 3 to 1 mix..

 

Its as simple as that..

[MRTerry]

Glen,

Glad to see you're reading the magazine! Thanks. As far as turnouts, no, I don't have a problem with them, but as I said in the story, I find them tedious to ballast. There are just other parts of the hobby I like better. With that in mind, now I paint the area directly under the points. I've used ballast there in the past, but this saves me a little time, and it makes maintenance simpler. I can say from experience that the rather heavy ballast we have around the turnouts on the MR&T doesn't make maintaining them any simpler. Another reason I wrote that piece is that we hear from a lot of readers who say, "I ballasted my track and now my trains don't run as well." Some of them might find this helpful.

Another time-saver, by the way, is to airbrush your track with Tamiya acrylic paints. Even when they're fully dry (weeks or even months), you can wipe them off the tops of the rails with a paper towel dampened with Windex. It saves a lot of time with the track cleaning block!

Best wishes, and thanks for reading MR.

Terry

[BRAKIE]

Terry,As far as painting rail I prefer Polly S..All I do is wipe the top of the rails off with a damp cloth-I kinda like Handi Wipes-before the paint dries..This saves a lot of extra work.

[Anonymous]

I think to much is made of ballasting switches, I recently ballasted my track, only my second layout, my own common sense told me to be careful not to get ballast or glue near the moving parts of a turnout, my way round it ras to press putty around the moving parts of the turnout to stop ballast or glue getting near the workings, this method worked 100%, 12 sets all working perfectly.

[Dave Vollmer]

Another reason I wrote that piece is that we hear from a lot of readers who say, "I ballasted my track and now my trains don't run as well."

Terry,

That would have been me complaining on my previous 3 layouts.  This time around I was practically surgical about keeping ballast out of the points and throwbars on my turnouts and am rewarded with trains that actually run through them!  Ditto on painting under the track first; certainly helps disguise the reduced ballast around the throwbar.  Also I learned the hard way to mask both the points and the hinges when spraying.  This time I airbrushed with Polly Scale rather than sprayed with a can so that I could come back with the same color and brush-paint the rest of the turnout.  Keeping those little rocks out of the flangeways and frogs is an exercise in patience, as is keeping them from obstructing the closure of the moving rails.

BTW, great just with MR!  I've had several articles lately arrive just in time in the mail as I'm ready to tackle a project.  Keep up the project articles!  Thanks.

[blubryexp]

I'm soon going to get to this stage. Installing switch machines under the Peco turnouts and mounting them into a previously carved out pocket in the 2" foamboard.

Question-Is there a shim of some sort(maybe make your own) that can be placed between the turnout and the switch machine that covers the pocket after which the area is then carefully ballasted so as to blend in with the surrounding ballast? or leave it alone to avoid jamming the mechanism.

Thanks in advance for the help-

Suncook Valley Railroad

 

[rogertra]

I paint all the sub-roadbed a very dark brown as a matter of course before I lay any track.  It seals the Donacona board (Sorta a Canadian Homasote but not quite as good at holding spikes).

This achieves two things.

1) Any ballast that goes astray is not noticed as much.

2) The glue holding the ties in place and the glue-water mix holding the ballast in place doesn't soak into the Donacona sub-roadbed making alterations to handlaid track slightly easier.

As I don't own an airbrush, the most overused tool in model railroading, I brush paint the Donacona and the track before main ballasting.  I do sprinkle ballast over the ties as the glue is drying and before I lay rail as it seems a shame to let that glue dry without using it.