Hello;
I was wondering if anyone has tryed to apply ballast to Altlas Tru track that has the molded ballast roadbed. I was thinking of trying this because it is hard to keep the molded ballast from getting paint on it even when you mask. It seems the earth latex paint is drawn under the tape. Any tips as to how to go about it would be appreaciated.
Thanks Bill
I’ve not ballasted Tru-track, but I have ballasted EZ Track. It’s basically the same as ballasting any other track.
I don’t quite understand your problem. are you saying the True Track is already laid down and you are now starting to landscape with a base layer of paint? For some reason, it seems masking tape is not keeping the paint off the roadbed? If this is all true, the first thing I’d ask is if you are using 3M blue painters tape. It seems to excel in a tight seal in situations like this. The other question is how much paint are we talking about getting on the roadbed. If it’s only a small amount on the bottom, I wouldn’t even worry about as it will get hidden by ground cover when you complete your landscaping. Even the best maintained railroads have some brush and weeds that grow at the edge of the ballast line. If you do decide to go ahead and ballast the track, it’s like Chip said - it’s not much different than any other track. You use less balast between the rails because the ties are already set in the fake ballast and more ballast on the shoulders because they are relatively steep and you’ll need more to bring up a decent looking shoulder.