Hello all,
I’m trying to find an appropriate ballast for the CNW tracks on my N Scale layout, set in southeast Iowa in the late 50s. I’m interested in using the Pink Lady ballast. Was the CNW using this type of ballast that far back? If so, where can I find it these days? I did find this option online, though I’m not sure it’s the correct size for N Scale: http://www.enginehouseservices.com/products/CNW-PINK-LADY-_-BALLAST-_-SCENERY-Scale.html
Thanks for the help!
RR Telg,
Take a look at this Thread,Ballast on CNW’s line to Rapid City SD. You’ll find it on this site…Prototype Information For the Modeler,Talks about Pink Ballast on the CNW…
Cheers,
Frank [:)]
I believe the quarry that produced pink lady ballast first began supplying the North Western in the 1950s. Obviously not every mile of the CNW saw fresh ballast every decade and even in one locale not every mile gets reballasted at the same time, so it is not possible to answer your question without looking at track charts that show years of reballasting. But it is perhaps at least plausible. I suspect some of the more outlying areas of the railroad might never have seen any pink lady ballast at all.
What I recall, from the 1960s to the end of the North Western in the 1990s, is that the colors and shades of pink lady changed as the quarry work dug deeper into the rock stratum. This has been mentioned by others. I think then rock got considerably pinker near the end, similar to some almost shocking pink rock you see used in aquariums. I have seen older pink lady that was dark maroon, almost the color of dried blood. The closest I have seen was the Pink Lady from Arizona Rock & Mineral and from a supplier in Sheboygan Wisconsin named I think Dale Keuhn. But even then to capture the darker pink of the 1960s I tone down that ballast with a spray mix of india ink in 90% alcohol.
Dave Nelson
Thanks all. Was this pink ballast used exclusively on the mainlines? If so, what type of ballast do you recommend I use for branch & yard tracks?
Gidday, CNW will probably turn out to be the exception to the case but I would suggest that If a railroad had an economic reliable source of ballast they would have stuck with it.
Regarding your original query regarding the scale of the ballast, why not try contacting Mountain Model Craft.
Cheers, the Bear.
I think the CNW used it where ever they needed ballast, but spurs and branchlines rarely get fresh ballast
I can say that at Butler Yard in Milwaukee, they used pink lady but it was in small chips, perhaps waste from the quarry that was otherwise not usable as ballast. They would ballast with those chips right to the tops of the ties, making for a very even walking surface for the yard crews.
Dave Nelson
Arizona Rock and Mineral lists N scale CNW pink granite ballast. http://store.rrscenery.com/?page_id=20
regards, Peter
So what did they use in the '1930s and '40s?
Here is a link to some great photos of the Rock Springs Quarry near Baraboo, Wisconsin.
http://geoscience.wisc.edu/~maher/air/air14.htm
The entire area appears to be pink in color.
Rich