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My boss years ago called them "chat" roads, but the official name, I think is McAdam. Crushed limestone on top of a layer of tar over a graded gravel road bed. They're pretty common in the south for secondary roads, and when gravel roads are 'paved,' they use McAdam.
Has anyone modeled these types of roads? I figured a gloss black latex (I have foam) and fine n-scale gray ballast.
What do you all think?
that would work, i would get a few colors of ballast as they make repairs and such on the road
chat is what we call a type of stone in the south. it's real name is called 789 stone
Are yall reading my mind i been thinking of doing that very thing on my layout,i been wondering how it would look
I grew up in an area that did that until the late 1960's -- used to use crushed medium toned limestone, or even dirt at times, over tar( I seen them use pure bunker oil too!).
Used to get bawled out a lot about walking or riding my bike over the stuff and because I'd have to cross the stuff to get home, I used to look at mom and go --and how do you think I'd get home then? Polevaulting?
That type of road is more commonly called chip sealed. It's used on previously paved roads to renew the surface and, as described, to make a "paved" surface over a gravel road. It's cheap but doesn't last very long, so it has to be re-done every few years, leading to all the kids getting yelled at for tracking tar in the house.
Chip sealed roads generally use the cheapest aggregate available in the local area, so the color varies in different parts of the country. The colors were generally not uniform either, so a mix of two or three different colors would look about right. The finished product might look like a compacted gravel road or more like asphalt, depending if a final layer of bitumen was sprayed on top. The shiny look didn't last long with traffic so, unless you're modeling a very recently resealed road, I think gloss black would be too bright.
Thanks, all.
I'll go with flat black unless I decide the county road crew is doing work.
I've heard the roads referred to besides chat and McAdam as hardball and now chip sealed. I'd agree the only time they're good is when they're new, since bacteria that eat sulfur in the tar as well as the constant wet weather result in potholes very quickly. It's funny, though, that when they go in to repair the pot holes, they use asphalt, which, if they could afford to use to begin with, would last longer.
Another term for them is 'oil and chip' roadways, that's what they called them in Western PA. (I lived there for awhile.)
Chip-n-seal here in SW MO.
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