Home made ballest


Well don't know about cheap when there is 400+ feet of track to ballest
So did some comparing and scenic express says 20 to 40 size for HO and a 25# bag is $68 plus shipping
can buy white pool filter sand that is 20-40 size 50# bag for $8 then use Rit fabric dye on it to make whatever color I want
 
So some of my experiments The grey is dyed white play sand 40-50 mesh The second is just plain uncolored pool sand 20-40 mesh and the last is coarse sand used for plants 12-30 then some of the coarse that I dyed
 

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MikeGTW said:
Well don't know about cheap when there is 400+ feet of track to ballest
So did some comparing and scenic express says 20 to 40 size for HO and a 25# bag is $68 plus shipping
can buy white pool filter sand that is 20-40 size 50# bag for $8 then use Rit fabric dye on it to make whatever color I want
Click to expand...
I guess it depends on what you are using and what your method is. Scenic Express seems a little high. I get the 32 oz bottles of Woodland Scenics medium and I get about 300' of HO mainline from a bottle. My LHS which is a discounter, sells it for about $13/ 32 oz bottle. I have ballasted over 1300' with it so far.
 
santafewillie said:
I guess it depends on what you are using and what your method is. Scenic Express seems a little high. I get the 32 oz bottles of Woodland Scenics medium and I get about 300' of HO mainline from a bottle. My LHS which is a discounter, sells it for about $13/ 32 oz bottle. I have ballasted over 1300' with it so far.
Click to expand...
HMM 300' anyone I've talked to and or read says about 50' per 32 oz bottle
 
Willie so about 40 to 50 feet that sounds more like it
so dyed some of the pool filter sand Don't think I used enough dye it looked good while it was wet
and did some testing put some in a glass of water and another in 91% alcohol no bleeding of color so far
the left one is the pool sand the right one is the white play sand
 

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MikeGTW said:
Willie so about 40 to 50 feet that sounds more like it
so dyed some of the pool filter sand Don't think I used enough dye it looked good while it was wet
and did some testing put some in a glass of water and another in 91% alcohol no bleeding of color so far
the left one is the pool sand the right one is the white play sand
Click to expand...

The white play sand looks better IMHO!
 
Mike- I think either type would work well.
You might use the play sand around switches and bridges where it may be easier to control the distribution.
Making your own ballast is an interesting concept, so I am following this thread closely.
I have used RIT dye to color sawdust, which gives different color hues depending on the wood source.
! tried sawdust with watered down craft paint. A 10:1 water to paint ratio was the minimum to break the dried sawdust clumps apart.
 
For my O scale I use REAL Ballast that they crush very fine for roofing granules and they also use it for the UP railroad. The quarry is about 40 miles south of where I live. A couple miles north of the quarry the truckers pull off and dump off their access so they won’t be overloaded. Here’s a pic of it where I’ve ballasted over fast track
12E61084-92C5-4501-9FA6-DE9A18666373.jpeg
 
I grab some ballast from the real railroad and sit in my garage with a hammer and anvil in a cardboard box crush the actual ballast into small pieces put it through a strainer then put it in water so the debris comes out and finally cook it on my stove in a frying pan to speed up the drying process. I can post pictures if anyone is curious.
 
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