I have all the track now, “ballasted” i say it in quotes becase its not real ballast, its spray paint that also holds down the track…but its all done now, and i now can start on the brook, but i did a corner of turf just to see how well it comes out…any comments welcome.
overview
close up of the main coming out of the tunnel and into the yard and station area…logging spur on left up the hill.
closeup of the truf attempt.
I have sections of the track where the train runs slower than others, i cant seem to figure that out…the track isnt any dirtier on those sections than others…the train just seems to run slower, any ideas? I do need to hook up all my electrical feed wires, i might have a different behavior after that who knows.
The roadbed is laid 1st. either the WS foam or the cork, I used both, the main line is all WS the engine yard is cork, the logging spur is WS.
after that, the track is laid out on it, and shapped and cut, all to how it needs to be.
Then i pick a section to ballast…i lift it out, put masking tape around what i dont want to be painted, and spray paint the roadbed. its the speckle paint at walmart. is $6 per can…I used 4 cans of grey and 1 can of the tan…looking back its not any cheaper than buying ballast i suppose.
so the area is sprayed, and sprayed generously as the paint sprays, it builds up, it doesnt flow. once i have a good layer down, I then take the track and place it down into the paint…put all my track joiners back on, I sprinkled some real ballast i had laying around just go give it some character, put some weights on the track if need be and then leave it. next morning, its all done, track is secured down and its ballasted all in one step.
how long of a section? well, it all depended on where i was working, 1st two sections were only 2’ long. I did under the turnouts all at once, I didnt put the track down when it was wet, i left the turnouts free, they can lift right out and there isnt any stuff to get in the way of the points. The last section on the main line was done as a one shot, I am not sure how long, but it went from the covered bridge through the tunnel and to the turnout there next to the engine house, its 2 3’ sections soldered together in the tunnel…but i cant believe its a full 6’. The very last section was the logging spur, that was all done in one step. that has 2 3’ sections, but again its not 6’
the paint is latex base and flexes with the WS roadbed without cracking. it did add noise to the traveling train, as the paint shell will echo the noise but not
thanks for the explanation . it certainly looks good , and sounds like it’s less of a pain than the traditional ballasting method . i might give it a try if i can find that paint
I suggest you do some tests out first. do a test section of the same length and try both methods. you may find that the paint process isnt any easier.
I found this, if you use flex track, make sure its the kind that can hold its form after you flex it. OR if your layout isnt all that customized and you can get away with sectional track, solder the sectional track together and then lay that one new section down on the wet paint. the LAST thing you need is to have the track shift on you as you are trying to place it down into the paint.
I found if i messed up and had “holes” in my paint, I could use something, anything with a straight edge and scoop up extra paint that sprayed on the masking tape and put it where i wanted it. the paint is almost like wet putty, but if you smear it, the black and white speckles will mix and smuge. buy one can and just play around…that how i started it…
As far as the train slowing down, are your rail joiners soldered to each section of track? If not, you could have poor electrical connections. If you run the trains in complete darkness, you may see arcing at the rail joiners. If this is the case, rather than solder the rail joiners to the track, run feeders to each section of track, then connect them together with a common buss. This way the track sections are getting power from the buss, not through the rail joiners.
