All the articles that I have read about ballasting track are all about doing straight track but they never tell how to do around switches. How do you do your switches to keep glue and ballast from jamming up the works. I have a whole yard to do and I,m not sure how to do all of those switches. So what are your methods. Mine are all powered by a tourtoies machine I have done some and still 3 months later they sometimes stick.
I just be very careful around the points and frogs. Some light locomotive oil on the throw bar and any contacts for the points help. Use very little glue around moving parts. Clean up glue with a tooth pick when dry and just be careful is all.
Actually not too many days ago there was a pretty active thread on just that topic. And as it happens I am about to give an NMRA Divisional meet clinic on the topic of ballasting and my final part is about turnouts/switches, so I have been thinking about this lately.
The short but not helpful response to your question is “very carefully.” Both the ballast and the glue have to be kept away from the throw rod, the moving points, and not come between the points where they meet the stock rails. You also don’t want ballast in the guard rails and frogs. It can be done and the secret seems to be, use somewhat less ballast under the moving points than you might feature elsewhere (in other words not right up to the top of the tie), and perhaps no ballast at all under the throw rod. If you nail your track, let the switch float a little. If you use latex caulk to secure track, then use it only on the three ends of the turnout, not under the throw rod or moving points. Instead of “flooding” the ballast with cement or matte medium, use perhaps a pipette type applicator or something with good control that allows a fine amount of liquid exactly where you point it. Move the points fairly often while the cement is drying or setting.
Alternatives? Well, former MR editor, now publisher, Terry Thompson suggested a few which I feature in my clinic. The first might be called the “Oh I give up” solution, and that is, purchase a good brand of track that has the roadbed integral with the track. Atlas, Kato, Bachmann, and Life Like all make this kind of track. With careful painting and weathering it can be made to look very much like the rest of your track. A few grains of ballast on the sloping side can blend it with your ballasted track.
Terry Thompson’s second alternative involves using a spray can of stuff that comes out looking (a little) like stone. I
I stay one inch or more away from the moving parts of the turnouts. I learned my lesson the hard way.
I fasten my wood ties to the layer immediately below with grey latex caulk, so if there’s no actual ballast stone there it still looks reasonably good. Then I follow the prototype’s lead, which is that the headblock ties on either side of the throwbar are laid ON ballast, not IN ballast.
My throwbars are PC board, less than half the thickness of my wood ties, so they never contact the (very thin) layer of caulk below.
Likewise, ballast in the point area is kept well below tie-top level. Other than that, the only issue is keeping grains of ballast out of flangeways. Adhesive is applied with an eyedropper, not with a watering can or spray gun.
Like the Fram Filter man says (paraphrased), “You can take the time to do it carefully now, or you can waste the time cleaning up the rush-job problems later.”
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on hand-laid specialwork)
Hi,
Before I put my turnouts down, I paint the roadbed a black or dark gray color so if I miss any places, they won’t be too obvious. Once they are down, I ballast as usual by applying it dry, then spray lightly with wet water. Then using an eye dropper, apply a 50-50 mix of wet water and white glue. I keep the ballast away from the throw-bar, and well below the tops of the ties from the points to the frog. The water / water glue mix will still seep into places that you don’t want. Now to my secret step: I spray some WD-40 into a cap. Then get it into an eye dropper and apply it to the throw bar and the pivot points / rail joiners of the point rails, whatever is used on the turnouts I am using at the time, and on the tops of the ties next to the point rails. The WD-40 will, to an extent, repel the water (and the glue) from nonporous surfaces like plastic and metal. I then just let it all dry over night. I come back the next day and find that some initial sticking does occur, but it breaks loose easily. I then work any ballast out of the point and throwbar area with a dental pick and pick it up with a small hose attachment on a vacuum cleaner. White glue will not glue plastic or metal, and will come off. You just have to be patient in picking it out if you use too much water-glue solution. You shouldn’t flood the area like you do with regular track.
Hope this helps,
Elmer.