How to achieve that "no ballast" look

[Boxcab26]

I'm modeling a logging railroad and from the images I've seen of the prototype there was little to no ballast on the logging spurs. I'm at a loss to find a way to do this on my model railroad. Anyone experiment with this? Any help is appreciated!

 

[Alcomotive]

sawdust...dirt....chalks....should work. If you look at old pics of log roads and rr you see lots of bark, wood chips, mud, some rocks or ballast not much, dirt, debris from wood like sticks, branches etc...and some vegetation growth, weeds, and stuff.


hope that helps a little

 

[UP2CSX]

Just get some plain old dirt. Crush it in a sack with a hammer or run in through an old garage sale blender. Run a magnest through it to make sure there's no metal parts. Next, run it through a coarse sieve to remove any other large parts. Put it on some paper plates, cover with a paper towel, and microwave for two minutes to kill any small critters you might not want wandering around the layout. That's it, now you have real earth ballast just like most logging roads used.

As Alco said, you can also add some sawdust, small pieces of wood to represent tree branches that would have fallen off a train, and a little rock ballast in any place that the tracks cross a depression so the grade is a little more stable when it rains. Most logging branches were built with the idea parts would wash out and they wouldn't last more than about five years before the lumber ran out. Because of this, railroads spent as little as possible get rails back into the woods.

 

[Selector]

Dry some garden or sub-turf soil in a large pan. Outdoors in the sun would be ideal. Then place a cup at a time in a discarded nylon or pantyhose and sift it. That which passes through the 'mesh' of the nylon material will do a good job of making a dusty, fine soil to fill up the voids between the ties. Mix some plaster of paris into it, and set it into place with a light glue mixture. It should look good and natural.