I’m planning to use “Ballast King” ground rubber ballast on my layout and was wondering if anyone has had experience with it. I’m hoping it will absorb a lot of wheel on track noise. I have heard that it is a little difficult to apply. Can anyone give tips or suggestions? Thanks.
I have not used the product you asked about, but I did make my own from old carpet pad. Used a blender to grind it real fine and put it down with diluted white glue. I have not noticed any noise reduction. Can be painted if you wish or left as is. I have done both. You may want to find an old blender at a yard sale as the wife might be upset after finding hers in the shop.
sgriggs:
I am personally acquainted with the owner of Ballast king, and have built an o-scale 3-rail layout using his products for both the ballast and the ground cover scenery. The dilute white glue mixture for ballast adheres more weakly to ground rubber than it does to stone or ground foam. However, the reduced adherence causes no problems on permanent layouts. We found the ground rubber to be quite adequate for layouts, and the techniques for application are virtually identical to other materials. It is perhaps a shade quieter than other materials for the same purpose, but it depends more on how many screws you put through the track into the base wood material. The ground rubber is kinder to equipment than stone or cat litter should any get into a locomotive. I personally feel it is not absolutely necessary to glue the ground rubber at all, and plan to test the theory on my own layout. I am building with a view to re-usability of all components, including roadbed, track, ballast, and benchwork. Glue is an element that makes it next to impossible to save basic structure above the platform. But it is only my opinion and many people successfully glue ballast all the time. Rubber is also considerably lower in density than stone, if it matters to you.
I’d hazard a guess that it’s not the ballast but the bonding medium that’s the noise transmitter. Here’s the reason for my theory. I’ve got about 8’ of my 250’ layout ballasted, using Woodland Scenics ballast bonded with diluted white glue over flex track on cork. And as the train goes around the layout, I can tell just by the sound when it hits the ballasted part – it’s 100% louder. The only thing that’s really making contact between the ties and the plywood is the glue.