Does anyone have experience using ground rubber ballast (such as “Ballast King” brand) on a hirail or toy train layout? I plan to use it on my layout and am hoping that it reduces the noise level. I have heard it is a little difficult to spread. Any experiences would be appreciated.
Hi,
I’ve got Ballast King rubber ballast on my layout. It spread OK (I tapped the edge of an open can to distribute the ballast and made any touchups with my fingers; I didn’t use a ballast spreader). Using a spray bottle, I wet the ballast with water and a few drops of dish detergent to get the glue to penetrate, then used a lot of a 50/50 mix of white glue and water dribbled out of an old Elmer’s glue container to hold down the ballast. It took a few days to dry. The ballast is flexible, but holds together and has been fine now for a few years. As far as sound goes, it didn’t make trains quieter (the dried glue is probably transferring sound to the plywood), but I expect if I used stone ballast things would be louder.
Neil Besougloff
editor, CTT