Need inexpensive alternatives for ballast

[KemacPrr]

Really? Where did you find this out?


One of the local model railroaders and a good friend is a chemist at DuPont. we were both looking at ballst types at the same time and were wondering what Woodland scenics was made of. He took some to the lab tested it and found out it was dyed crushed walnut shells. My guess isthat WS has a source for them after they are used in some cleanin g process such as media blasting. --------------- Ken McCorry

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jfugate

QUOTE: Originally posted by brothaslide

QUOTE: Originally posted by CBQ_Guy

If you think a bag or two of ballast is too expensive, you just might be in the wrong hobby . . .
seriously. Sorry. [:(]

I read this post and I just had to shake my head.[V] I'm not down on you CBQ_Guy but your post comes off negative and a little arrogant.

I don't think Paul was trying to be arrogant. I believe Paul's point was if you are worried about the price of a $4 bag of ballast, then you better not go over to the loco section of the hobby shop!

Be prepared to spend some money if you are serious about the hobby. But hey, have you checked out the price of a new boat lately, or the price of ski lift tickets? Many of the more interesting and fun hobbies cost some money, and I don't think model trains is even that high on the list compared to the price for other popular pastimes.

Yeah, like Joe said...but he said it better! [B)]

[selector]

Hi. I'm new, both to model/toy trains and to this forum. Very helpful people. In particular, I would like to thank Bilb2k above, for his alterness. I had already gathered two shades of local beach sand (Vancouver Island), washed both in purified water to desalinate, and only fleetingly thought about what it was that made the darker sand dark. Thanks to my new friends here, I immediately waved a magnet over the dark stuff, and, well, the rest you can guess.

Many thanks for all of your posts, here and elsewhere. My new layout is only days away from first steam, but it would have been short-lived with magnetic material in my ballast!

[Anonymous]

I concur with those who recommend kitty litter.

A small bag of "generic brand" kitty litter, once sifted through a cheap flour sifter, goes a long, long way. I don't recommend "name brand" kitty litter, though, as they keep putting little blue-colored granules in it. "Generic" brand also works well to simulate gravel, such as for a roof, driveway, or parking lot. I've even used some of the larger granules to simulate falling boulders at the base of a cut by the right of way.

The color of cheap kitty litter, as is, makes for a pretty good color of track ballast, but if you do want to tint it, I've had great success simply using an appropriate color of Rit clothing dye. It, too, is quite inexpensive.

I do not know if one of your earlier responders was pulling your leg or not. My wife has three (@#$%^) housecats. All have played havoc with my layout at one time or another over the years, but none have ever confused my track ballast as a kitty litter box.

[AggroJones]

I only use colored kittie litter for talus and rock piles.

[Anonymous]

One of my relatives went to a local quarry and asked for limestone gravel dust. They asked what he wanted it for and upon telling the lady at the scale shack she called on the radio for one of the workers there. He came up drove him to the biggest pile of HO scale ballast you could imagine and gave him a 5 gallon bucket full for free. He screened it and came up with three different sizes, and the worker at the quarry even came over and helped ballast some track. You just never know where you'll meet a fellow modeler.

[ukguy]

I used a bag of oil spill clean up gravel stuff from Wal-Mart. I just sifted the bag using my wifes large flour sifter (she's a chef and do not tell her i used it) I obtained enough ballast to do more than 100ft of double track main line ( although I unfortunately do not have the space for 100ft of mainline, i have plenty left over) the stuff is predominently light grey with lighter and darker shades, some black, so it looks realistic.
The bag cost $2.95, I only used the finest pieces for ballast so I have 99% left for other uses, like oil spills, I got plenty of ballast and it is very lightweight.
some pics are on my site below.

[ukguy]

I used a bag of oil spill clean up gravel stuff from Wal-Mart. I just sifted the bag using my wifes large flour sifter (she's a chef and do not tell her i used it ) I obtained enough ballast to do about 100ft of double track main line ( although I unfortunately do not have the space for 100ft of mainline, i have plenty left over) the stuff is predominently light grey with lighter and darker shades, some black, so it looks realistic.
The bag cost $2.95, I only used the finest pieces for ballast so I have 99% left for other uses, like oil spills, I got plenty of ballast and it is very lightweight. And it doesnt attract cats.
some pics are on my site below.

[selector]

Toolbox_guy, I had a similar experience myself just yesterday!. I went to a place closeby that sells compost, mulch, gravel, topsoil, etc by the truckload. I drove in and told a young fellow that I was modeling rip-rap for a series of bridge abuttments. He replied that he hads just the thing, asked my scale, and then informed me that he is into S-guage.

Small world.

[twhite]

QUOTE: Originally posted by selector

Toolbox_guy, I had a similar experience myself just yesterday!. I went to a place closeby that sells compost, mulch, gravel, topsoil, etc by the truckload. I drove in and told a young fellow that I was modeling rip-rap for a series of bridge abuttments. He replied that he hads just the thing, asked my scale, and then informed me that he is into S-guage.

Small world.

Small world is right. Went over to Home Depot yesterday to get lumber and extruded foam for my new extension project. As I was leaving, somehow the buzzer went off. I just stood there while the guard came up and inspected my receipt. She saw my T-shirt ('STILL PLAYS WITH TRAINS',) grinned and said, "I know what you bought THIS stuff for!" and waved me on through. Neat lady. I wonder if she's married-----------
Tom [:D][:D]

[selector]

You mean you didn't ask!!?