00 Gauge Garden Railway Ballast

Garden Railroading
1

Hello

I know this site is for the Larger scale Garden Railways, but I thought I’d get some advice from the Experts [:D]

My Garden Railway Trackbase is built with Concrete, the Track has been laid, and now I would like to ballast the track. Obviously, 00 Gauge is much smaller than G scale track, so the Ballast will have to be much finer.

I have read that Cement dust can be used for 00 Ballast, and will set with over night dewl. I have tried this, but after a couple of weeks the Cement crunbles?

Has anyone got any ideas as to how I would stop it from Crumbling?

Thanks In Advance
Darren

2

hi Darren_E
How are you doing the ballasting Job??
laying dry then spraying?? or spreading wet??
Regards John

3

Hey John

I would like to lay it dry then spray. Any Ideas?
Thanks

4

Daren,

Unfortunately physics takes precedence over scale here.

Most ballast used for Garden Railways is already oversized even for 1:20 scale. Nature doesn’t make scale rain drops or scale wind so you have to go with a ballast that is large enought to withstand the weather in your area.

The smaller your ballast the more important that the ballast be rough (i.e. no round stones like river gravel) so that it can lock together and stay in place. The dust in a good ballast helps the bigger particles stick and lock together but with out the bigger pieces, the ballast would either blow or wash away.

5

Hi Darren_E
The only idea that comes to mind is to lay your ballast with some OO scale real crushed granit mixed in it I think Carrs do some of that
and mix a spray of 50/50 PVA water like you would for indoors don’t forget the drip of dishwashing liquid.
Trouble is I am not sure how it will stand up out side.
The granit and cement will last out side.
But I am a bit concerend the PVA will not only stop the tendancy to crumble but also help trap moisture under the track just where you don’t want it.
regards John

6

Ok thanks guys.

I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be as easy as first thought.[^]
Thanks for your input so far. I’ll just keep searching for Ideas[:)]

7

try cement bonding adhesive. It is made for exterior (outdoor) useage. Use about 2:1 with 2 being water and a bit of soap and rubbing alcohol to saturate. Instead of cement dust, try using HO/OO scale ballast that is not rounded. You can get the correct size by sifting crusher fines.

8

Thanks David I’ll keep that in mind.[:)]

9

Well here in the UK the most accepted ballast is a mixture of cement powder, compost and fi***ank gravel.

It works -honestly!

regards

ralph