I’m trying to estimate how much ballast I need to buy for my double mainline ho railroad. My estimate is there is about 375 feet of track total (not counting bridges and planned tunnels). All of it is on standard size cork roadbed. The Woodland Scenics ballast supposedly will cover 50cu in and they go for $10 each. I’m calculating that I would then need about 90 (32 oz shaker bottles) of this stuff to do the whole layout. Thats $900 bucks. This seems like a ridiculous amount of money for ballasting a model railroad.
Does one bottle of this stuff really only cover 50 cubic inches or does it really cover alot more or does anyone know of a cheaper method.
Never thought I’d be spending this kind of money for ballast and that don’t cover the scenic cement I need (don’t know how much of that stuff I’ll need) and also plan on using the Tidy Track track painter (rust) to do the rails and that’s another one I can’t even estimate how many of those I’ll need. There probably is a cheaper method for track painting like spray painting the track, but I’m uncomfortable doing anything that might interfere with train or turnout operation. I figure I can get away without painting the outside of the rails facing the backdrop and the inner rail that you would have a hard time seeing on the double track closest to the backdrop.
I think that you might be interpreting the coverage incorrectly. The large bottles contain 50 cubic inches. One cubic inch of ballast will cover much more than one linear inch of track because you are not applying the ballast 1" deep or anywhere close to that.
Exactly how much track 1 cubic inch of ballast will cover will vary depending on how wide and deep the ballast will be, but let’s assume that the ballast will have a normal profile and is being applied over cork roadbed. That means that the ballast will be roughly 2" wide and will be an average of 1/8" deep (less between the ties and more outside of the rails). If you do the math, 2" x .125" = .25 cubic inches. One cubic inch divided by .25" = 4.0 linear inches. Multiply that by 50 cubic inches per bottle means that each bottle should cover 200 inches of track (16.6’). Your track is 375’ divided by 16.6 = 22.6 bottles of ballast.
My math is probably suspect because there are so many variables, but I think you see my point. Twenty three bottles of ballast will still not be cheap, but they will certainly be less than the 90 bottles that you thought you might need.
My layout is a double mainline, each track running 165 feet, so 330 feet of mainline track. I used Scenic Express real rock ballast. I needed 3.25 gallons of ballast. The total cost including tax and shipping was $217.58.
Your double mainline is 375 feet, so your total cost would be $247.25 , using my cost numbers.
I’ve got about the same amount of track, I think, and didn’t use more than 3 or 4 of those Woodland Scenics ballast cannisters, plus a couple equivalent-sized containers of real limestone ballast given to me by a friend. I also bought two 50lb. bags of crushed limestone (about five bucks apiece), and screened enough of it to complete the ballasting.
Most track has ties that are thin enough that it doesn’t take much ballast to fill the spaces between them, but I didn’t scrimp on ballast where the trackside landforms call for heavier ballast applications…
I used two-and-a-half bottles of Pollyscale paint to brush-paint both sides of all rail on the layout, except that
Home Depot 50 pound bag of washed sand, Quick-crete Play Sand cost me about $15 last summer, but I can’t remember what the price was…say $20? That bag will last me a lifetime plus.
I would strongly urge you NOT TO use Woodland Scenics ballast unless you know for a fact that it is real rock pieces and not crushed walnut shells.
I used local beach sand, washed and cleared of magnetic material, on my first three layouts. Wanted another colour besides salt n’ pepper for the fourth.
Go to your local landscaping materials place where people bring compost and yard waste, and where people doing plant borders get chipped bark mulch or pea gravel or blue-chip or talus…you get the idea. Ask for sand, and if the colour is right for you, wash it when you get home, dry it on large cookie sheets, and Bob’s yer uncle. They’ll want $8 for a 5 gal bucket.
Hmmm, “Extreme” such a misused and overused word!
I’m another who uses washed river sand as well as running a magnet over it, then sifting into various sizes.
As for “scenic cement” there is a thread running concurrently to this one…
[url]http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/286676.aspx
Hope you find a “cheaper” option that works successfully for you.
Having a layout with 375 ft of trackage - excluding bridges and tunnels - is in itself a pretty large and in many ways an expensive venture. I can only imagine what the track, roadbed, turnouts, controls, and other right of way needs must have cost for something that big.
So the cost of ballast is just the icing on the cake, and its cost is just a small piece of the total pie. So with all the other expenses considered, the cost of the ballast is just not that big of a deal.
OK, to be constructive here, consider…
Rock ballast is preferable to WS shells. It is more expensive but easier to put down and it tends to stay where it falls.
You don’t have to buy all the ballast at once. Doing 375 ft of track is one big task, and it will likely take some time to finish.
Of course the previous posters were correct, cubic inches of product translates to maybe 8 times that in coverage.
While its likely too late for you, I have always painted my roadbed a similar color to the ballast I will use. This way, any small bare spots will not be noticeable.
Finally, I suggest that many of the folks on this forum would envy having space for 375 ft of track, and to be able to afford such a venture!
As others have already said, your estimates are way too high. I have a similar amount of track although I’ve never calculated how much. I don’t buy the ballast all at once so I can only estimate how much I needed but I’m sure it was less than 10 jars of WS ballast.
I used different types of ballast of mainline, yards, and spurs. I would just buy what I needed to get start and when that ran out, I’d buy more. If you forced me to guess, I’d say I used 8 jars total and I have some still left over of each type.
Selector, I never heard that expression but Wiki bailed me out. Is it more common in some parts? I enjoyed learning it, as my heritage includes 1/4 Irish and 1/4 English, apparently the origin of the expression.
My last layout was done in WS ballast as will my currant one under construction. I only needed a couple of the big jars but only did about 1/2 what you are planning. I was bored so did a section with some extra wrong color than I am using (just loose of course) 1" did 1 1/2 feet of track aprox. single wide. So maybe 10 jars, maybe a bit more maybe a bit less, accually proubly less as there is one less shoulder in double track. I used wet water and used a matt medium mix to secure on last layout.
I use craft paint to do the sides of the rails, with a brush. Best done before ballasting. I dilute 70% alcohol 1:1 with water, soak the ballast and then add white glue, cut by three parts water. I apply this with a child’s medicine dropper.
Paul, it is common in some environments, depending on the culture here in Canada. I would say it’s more an east coast thing, but you can hear it all over since people migrate across the country for work.
The version I am used to hearing is, “Bob’s your uncle…and Peg’s your aunt.” Peg, or Peggy, is the diminutive for Margaret. Religion is still practiced more in the east of Canada than in the west, with the name Margaret popping up as community names for the Saint of that name. Nobody should be surprised that the maritimers named a famous place Peggy’s Cove.
Wow I really appreciate everyone’s help. Yeah I misunderstood bottle content with coverage. I really appreciate Dave’s math as I could never have figured that out on my own (never really was good in math). But based on the other inputs and what they actually used I think I might be good with 15 of the those 32oz/50cu in bottles. I think it was Rich who indicated he used 3.25 gallons (so if my math is right that would have been about 13 32oz bottles). I’m guessing that probably 4 bottles of the scenic cement should be ok, I don’t think you need to use that much based on the Model Railroad ballasting video I think Cody did.
As far as the Tidy Track pen type painter I’m thinking perhaps maybe 15 or so of those as they don’t look like they would cover that much and some people said it might require a second coat.
I appreciate the other suggestions too, but since I’m modeling south central West Virginia it looks like that ballast on their mainlines are that grey blend.
Again, I really appreciate everyone’s input and yeah it took putting up a 30x40’ steel building in the backyard to fit my 18’ x 24’ layout and also the pool table that would only fit in the house if I moved all the furniture out of the living room, but no room for the model railroad. I live in west central Texas (no basement) and we we’re going to move to Utah and get a bigger house, but that didn’t make sense anymore so to be able to have a man cave I needed to put up the steel building. That was costly too, but much cheaper than what it would have cost to move to Utah, especially since the house is paid for.
Love everyone’s pictures of their layout scenes. Maybe once I get along with actual landscaping, mountain building, tunnel/river construction, etc. I’ll upload some pics.
You can save yourself some money by using a different glue than Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement. The least expensive way to go is Elmer’s White Glue. I use Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium which is way more expensive than Elmer’s White Glue, but it results in quieter running once the ballast hardens.
As was already suggested, you might consider buying your ballast and glue a few bottles at a time so that you don’t get stuck with too many leftovers. Based on what others have said, when I look at my math I suspect that I may have over calculated your needs.
FWIW, I’m going to use real stone ballast on my layout. I have heard that there can be problems with WS ballast because it is very lightweight and can shift when the glue is being applied. I have worked with real stone ballast and I didn’t have any problems with it moving out of place.
