I finally, after what seems like forever, finished all my track laying last night.
Now we still have a nice ground cover of snow around here so I cannot really get out to get samples of the real stuff, and I don’t really want to put off ballasting for 3 or 4 more weeks, I have a ballast color question. What color(s) are prototypical to the Boston and Maine? I’m imagining a whole lot of granite? I plan to use Woodland Scenics as I’d rather not do alot of custom blending. I will have mainline and at aleast 1 yard. Are yards and mainlines a different mix / color?
Yards are pretty neglected when it comes to maintenance; a ‘get-by’ philosophy prevails. Yards tend to turn to mud - not oozing-between-the-toes mud but rather an accumulation of dust that mixes with ballast and which rainwater transformes into a thick gruel - probably ‘mucky’ is a good descriptive word. Periodically the railroad does lay down new ballast but rather than assume the proportions and shape of roadbed it is graded smooth. Ties pretty well disappear - when I say ‘disappear’ I am saying that they stop being readily distinguishable although a brand new yard will have readily identifiable features of roadbed except that the ballast will be graded flat - and eventually a yard begins to assume the looks of a field with tracks layed out onto the ground.
You will probably want to use a ground cover that gives the impression of dirt with just enough ballast added to add flavor to the visual dynamics.
Sparkyjay: Granite is the the stuff, and it will need to be tinted to a dirty color after a few years of use of course, the B&M period you are doing I assume is pre 1955?
The gray granite is what you’re looking for. My club models the 50s New England, I have found that WS fine gray will do, however, the light weight of WS ballast can be a pain to position and moves about easily. Usually where you don’t want it. After experinenting, I found that Scenic Xpress real stone light gray mixed w/ the WS was a good match and is easy to manage.
The mains to the left are the mix, ballast is darker as you get deeper into the yard tracks
In this you can see the salt and pepper look to the different ballast, don’t mind that bare spot- it’s been repaired wasn’t bonded and the vacuum ate it.
Arizona Rock also has a great product. You will find that working w/ real stone to be much easier and more managable. The stone is much heavier and stays put. You need to know that many real stone ballast will be slightly darker once wet and glued down. Experiment first on a sample piece to see if you like the final color.
