My track is down and I’m ready to do ballasting. My scale is HO. Ballast comes in fine, medium, and coarse. Which size is appropriate for mainline track.
I’m thinking it’s probably medium but some guidance is appreciated.
Thanks,
Jimbo
CEO L&NE (Ludington & Nowhere Else) RR
Hi Jimbo,
When our club ballasted the layout, we started with medium because that is what was recommended for HO. It is too large. Compared to the foot of an HO size figure, the ballast is the size of footballs. We started using the fine ballast and it looks better. The only problem is it must be wetted carefully before applying the glue or it floats off! Use rubbing alcohol in water to reduce the surface tension before applying the glue.
Mark C.
Yes, I used fairly fine beach sand, and it really is too coarse. I agree, Mark.
What do you recommend for N scale?
If you don’t really want to purchase commercial modeling ballast, screen your own. For N scale, you would need something pretty fine, say a 30 mesh per inch screen. Even that would be a bit big for the scale, but finer stuff would be like powder and very difficult to handle, shape, and glue.
I also suggest FINE, but don’t use a spray bottle. Use a large eye dropper or turkey baster for both the pre-wetting (alcohol or dish soap) and the glue (I use full strength Scenic Cement). Get the 5"L eye dropper is free from a Walmart pharmacy. When dry, scrape with a stiff brush and vacuum, then repeat. Those fine grains will migrate into places you don’t want.
I grind and sift my own from fireplace lava rock, lava ballast was common on the SP in the 1920s. I perfer a fine grind as I model a branch line, the larger pieces I use for rip-rap and fill material. Just don’t use the wife’s Mix Master, somehow those margiritas don’t taste the same with a heaping of lava dust[:D]
Dave
I agree, fine ballast looks much better in HO.
I also agree, fine ballast is the best size to use in HO.
Is it possible to crush up the Woodland Scenics ballast to use for N scale? I really like their color shades and would prefer to use them.
How do you folks crush real rock down into HO “Fine” Size? I’ve got some quartzite that’s probably the equivelant of Course ballast, and I want to crush it down so that I can use it on my track. I’ve tried a hammer, that didn’t work too well.
Noah
Off the shelf N scale ballest for HO looks good also[2c]
JIM
Welllll — I guess I’ll be a contrarian here.
I started using Woodland Scenics medium on my O-scale railroad because my calipers told me it was the right size – to scale, in other words. But it just didn’t look right to me; it looked too fine So I laboriously pried, scraped and vacuumed it up and re-did the track with coarse. I prefer the result. Model railroading is an art, right? Some things simply look better (to me) if the scale is fudged.
Some 30 or 35 years ago an artistic guy (last name: Jaques) fiddled with the scale of things on his model railroad with remarkable results. Does anybody remember the magazine and month in which his article appeared?
John
For N scale ballast I was not pleased with the medium that one can purchase for N scale. I started using fine of the Woodlands type. My wife, bless her, found some “decorative sand” in black and brown at a local craft shop - and much cheaper. I definitely like the black for coal yards.
You need a crusher or grinder for reducing a given size of stone to something smaller. They cost a lot.
Best bet is to find a gravel pit/landscaping company that sells different types of fill, and ask to spend 15 minutes at an appropriate pile of sand/find gravel, and spend that 15 minutes with a fine kitchen seive.
I used medium ballast on my former HO layout, and found, after spending some trackside time, that it appeared to big. I am going to use fine ballast for my next layout.
Will the fine work for N Scale, too, or should I go find some of that “decorative sand”? Are there any other landscape companies besides Woodland Scenics (I’m sure there’s some out there…somewhere [:)] ) that make good, quality, prototypical ballast for N scale?
One thing I think is important and it was mentioned already, is to use alcohol to pre-wet. Even more so than soap and water. I will dilute the alcohol with a little water, but I find the capillary action better that detergent and water. I use a dropper and let it soak from outside the rail once it is down. It will then pre-wet either the entire “between track” ballast or at least half of it. Then apply from the other side.
I try to avoid dropping it between the rails after the ballast is down as it will definitely “float” the ballast out of position. In my opinion, it just pre-wets better and allows the water/glue to soak in better than wet-water. Both of course work, but the alcohol requires less tune up afterwards.
Try this site - http://www.ballast-train.com/
Pretty much anything you need.
Question. I noticed in photos that the ballast in yards is not built up as in this example.
On mainlines it appears that the ballast is built up.
Why is that[?]