Ballast 101

[chadmichaels]

Hey guys,

As im getting closer to getting ready to ballast, I was wondering if there are any good threads or websites to read and study when it come to this? Also which ballast is best for ho..fine? corase or medium?

Chad

 

[CP9302]

I think Fine looks the most realistic for most applications. You can also use N scale ballast for HO, as it looks good too. If your budget is tight, medium will be cheaper in the long run as less is needed per foot, but the pieces are a little too large for HO.

The technique I've found works best for me is to use a small cup to sprinkle the ballast down the center of the track first. I then level this, mainly using my finger. Try to keep the ballast of the tops of the ties and off the web of the rail. If you have too much ballast in the middle, brush it over the rail to use on the outside. (this is why I do the middle first) Next, I sprinkle the ballast along the outside of the rails. Again I level it with my finger, gently tapping it down level with the ties. This usually leaves enough ballast to fill the area around the ends of the ties as well. If you are using elevated roadbed, like on cork, I find it useful to put white glue along the slopes to help the ballast follow the contour better. Painting the cork a colour similar to the ballast before ballasting can help hide any spots the ballast may come off of later.

I use a pump action sprayer to spray "wet-water" (water with a few drops of soap in it to break up the surface tension of the water so it flows better) or alcohol over the ballast to wet it down before applying the glue. Make sure the ballast is saturated, so the water penetrates all the way through. If not, you could end up with a layer of glued ballast over loose ballast. The top layer will be weak, and it is a mess, and ugly, if that top layer breaks! To glue the ballast, I use a mixture of 50/50 water and white glue. I drip it on using a glue bottle with an adjustable tip to control flow. If I get too much glue on the ties, I spray it all with "wet-water" again to dilute and rinse the glue off the ties.

I'm sure you'll have many other suggestions on how to lay ballast, I know I've seen it done many different ways at my club! Experiment and find what works best for you.

 

[UP2CSX]

I agree with Fred on his ballasting techniques. The only thing I would add is to have some protoype photos of your railroad (if you're trying reproduce a prototype) since every railroad used different ballast in different parts of the country. For example, the UP typically used granite ballast out west, which is mostly gray with some black. In the east, it was usually limestone with small amounts of granite, so the color was much lighter overall. Getting the color right is important if you're trying to portray a certain railroad in a certain place.

 

[jackn2mpu]

Something to think about with ballasting is not all ballasts are the same. I believe the Woodland Scenics is crushed, dyed walnut shells, and others are actual stone. The WS stuff, because it's what it is (relatively light compared to crushed rock or stone ballast material) can float out-of-place when spraying your wet water and putting down the adhesive you'll be using. To alleviate this just take your time when doing things and you'll be okay.

A technique I use for ballasting the sides (which I do first) is to spread some clear latex caulk thinly on the roadbed and then sprinkle the ballast. This will help keep the ballast from sliding totally off the slope when you do the prewet and glue thing which is necessary to really hold the ballast down. I then ballast the center between the rails, and do the prewet and glue thing over the whole area. Really hold the ballast and, by extension, the track down. I can then remove the track nails used (I use Atlas code 83 on my HO layout) and the track stays perfectly in place.

Do spend some extra time when working around turnouts so you don't glue the throw bar in place. What I do is to file a groove under the throwbar before I place the turnout in position so I can have ballast under the throwbar that's glued in place and the thowbar doesn't get frozen.

 

[kenw]

to keep the colors varied (if that's what you want), mix 2 colors together in small batches and don't worry about mixing them evenly, in fact, try to vary it some for each batch. It will give a realistic variation.

I find N scale ballast looks better for HO.

I "paint" the slopes of the roadbed with white glue, then sprinkle ballast on that. that gets most of it covered evenly without much waste. After that's set up, then I add more dry ballast, wet it with sprayed isopropyl alcohol and dribble drops of with white glue thinned with iso.

 

[Selector]

I used local beach sand that I verified had no magnetic material in it. I washed and rinsed it and let it dry. Then I sifted it off the edge of an aluminum pie plate along a length to be ballasted. I used an artist's brush to sweep much of it along, always in one direction, sweeping between the rails and keeping the grains level with the ties. When I had done two or three feet, I would take a wooden dowel and gently tap the rails, both of them, along the length. Ten taps or so will have all the grains of sand left on top of the ties dancing off and lying between them as they should be.

I used a plastic squeeze bottle with a pinhole in some sandwich wrap, or I have used masking tape, under the cap to control flow. I used hardware store 70% isopropyl alcohol and water mix to pre-wet the ballast, and then I used a twist nib carpenter's glue bottle with the same product, diluted 6/1, to dribble the light glue mixture onto the ballast, inboard and outboard of the rails. Note that you don't have to soak the ballast. You just want the top half of its greatest thickness to be hard to keep the track from wandering. At least, I have never wanted to turn my ballast into one monolithic piece.

Note, too, that you must immediately wrap a paper towel or a clean damp cloth around your finger and carefully wipe clean the rail tops. I did say immediately, didn't I. Otherwise you will find your next engine-running session to be a huge exercise in exasperation.

 

[Laidoffsick]

It is a very tedious job, take your time, go slow and do a couple feet at a time. It will be well worth the effort when you're all done. Like mentioned above, be very careful around the turnouts. I've seen a couple very good videos on YouTube with guys showing how to do ballast.

 

[nephthyr]

CP9302:

You mentioned using a pump action sprayer to wet the ballast. I tried this but ended up washing a lot of the ballast away and onto the ties which resulted in me having to take a tiny brush and clean each individual tie, a very tedious process.

So my question is how far away from the ballast should the sprayer be and do you aim it at the ballast or up and let the fine mist land on the ballast? How do you prevent water from going everywhere?

 

[jackn2mpu]

CP9302:

You mentioned using a pump action sprayer to wet the ballast. I tried this but ended up washing a lot of the ballast away and onto the ties which resulted in me having to take a tiny brush and clean each individual tie, a very tedious process.

So my question is how far away from the ballast should the sprayer be and do you aim it at the ballast or up and let the fine mist land on the ballast? How do you prevent water from going everywhere?

I'm not CP9302, but can offer a couple of tips.
First: you don't have to be closer than 3-4 inches to the surface you're working on.
Second: don't pump too hard or fast, just gentle, slow pushes on the plunger.
Third: it's better to point the spray part of the bottle up and let your wetting fluid mist on down.
Fourth: don't keep spraying until you see water run down on to your layout surface. Spray some, wait a little, and maybe spray some more. How you can tell if you need to spray more wetting solution is to spray some, try dribbling on your adhesive and see if it soaks in. If not, you need to spray some more, which you can do right on top of the adhesive you've just sprayed. After doing so, you may want to dribble on some more adhesive.

If you're worried about water getting everywhere and not drying, try using some isopropyl alcohol as part of your wetting and adhesive solutions - it'll dry a LOT quicker than plain old water.