Hey all, hope everyone is having a good weekend. I need some help with my ballasting. I have a Ho layout, using cork roadbed. I have fine ballast gravel for the ballast and am having problems getting the rocks to lay nice. I know that I probably just have to find my own way but need a nudge in the right direction.
Any help would be asume. Thanks
This is the method I use for laying and securing ballast. The track is in place and you’re ready for the next step.
Now is the time to make sure that all your track is in gauge and all gaps between track sections closed. If you don’t, you may have serious problems later on. These include derailments, uncouplings, shorted turnouts, blown power packs, etc, etc…
For ballasting, I use an 80/20 mix of fine and medium ballast. If you use fine only, the ballast starts to look smooth and boring after a while. The medium ballast adds some bigger pieces and makes the ballast look better. For securing the ballast, I use a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Don’t use matte medium. You’ll destroy your track trying to take it up later. Ask me how I know. With the water/glue mixture, you can reclaim your track by soaking the ballast with water. The glue in the ballast will soften and you can pull the track up. When putting the ballast and glue mix down, be very careful not to get any in the turnouts. This could freeze the moving parts solid. I suggest moving the ballast into place with your finger, followed by a light brushing with a small paint brush, like a brush for painting models. This moves the ballast away from the sides of the rails so your locomotives and rolling stock don’t ride up on it and possibly derail. Be sure too, that the ballast doesn’t lay on top of the ties. This could cause problems with coupler pins. when you’ve finished smoothing the ballast, spray the entire track with a solution of water and a few drops of dish washing liquid. This will insure that the water/glue mix goes through the ballast and glues it tight to the track. When you’ve done that, apply the water/glue mixture with an eyedropper or old glue bottle. Do the entire track, being very careful not to get it in the turnouts. Let this dry for at least 8 hours, better for 12. When the ballast is dry, clean the entire track with a bright boy or similar eraser. A rubber school eraser works wel
If I understand, you have difficulty grooming the ballast, getting it to look like the prototypes do it? Here is what I do:
a. I place whatever I am going to use and I place it in an aluminum pie tin, the kind you get when you by pies at the grocery store. About 1/4 cup at a time, maybe up to twice that is fine, but don’t allow the tin sides to begin to distort under too much weight (I use beach sand, so judge accordingly).
b. I tilt the tin on edge and pour a thin sifting of the (sand) between the rails over the course of about 8-12". I also pour a bit more on the ties outside the rails, covering the ties and a bit more beyond the cork or foam roadbed. Then, I take a moderately stiff artist’s paint brush, not one with long soft hairs, and lightly brush the stuff between the rails until it leaves the spaces between the ties ballasted and the ties themselves more or less free from ballast particles atop them. This takes some practise and doing, so don’t expect a miracle. Work in one direction mostly.
c. When you near the end of the section poured, begin to work on the ballast on the outer tie ends doing the same thing as with the inner. The idea is to work any building berm of excess ahead of the brush (working in one general direction…mostly…remember) toward the skirt of the ballast, its outer reaches where it should begin to fall sharply quite near the ends of the ties. Do both sides of the tracks, of course. There are no shortcuts to good-looking ballasts, so be prepared to take as much as an hour to do about 6’ of track, plus or minus a couple of feet depending on your abilities, your speed of learning, and your standards for ballast.
d. Jeffrey’s methods that he describes should help you to get it solidified once it is groomed nicely. Never,…but NEVER…ballast track that is not already thoroughly proven with all locos in both directions…also your longest rollin
I’d like to add this tip…
After you get the ballast mostly groomed, take your brush, and tap the rail with the handle. The vibrations will clear the ballast off the ties and rail, and help settle the ballast.
Nick
Someone suggested taking an electric razor and putting it, running, against the rails. He’s found that the vibrations settle his ballast nicely. I haven’t tried this, but I think I see how it works next time I’m in ballasting mode.
You’ll find that if you spray the “wet water” directly on the track, the air stream from the sprayer will send your neatly-laid ballast all over the place. Instead, spray horizontally about a foot above the tracks, and let the mist “rain” down on the ballast.
I don’t do that either, though. I find it makes a mess, getting all over my scenery and anything else on the layout. Instead, I take a pipette (a big eyedropper that you can find at hobby shops) and drip the wet water on. It takes a bit longer, but I get much better control. In the end, I don’t have to remove all the nearby buildings, and I don’t have to do as much cleanup, so I probably end up saving time this way.
Depending on where you live, the weather and how climate-controlled your layout room is, it may take 2 or even 3 days for ballast to fully dry.
Once it’s dry, take a small screwdriver and chip off any bits of ballast that have ended up on top of the ties, and particularly any that are actually up on the the sides of the rails. Vacuum up the leftovers and then clean your track.
There’s a good article in the January 07 issue of Model Railroader Magazine about laying ballast. I started following it on my new layout and it works pretty well although its a lengthy process.
One of those cheap black foam rubber “paint brushes” – but it is not a brush of course – slowly and carefully brushed back and forth while run along the rails seems to do a good job of distributing ballast evenly without flicking it all over the place (as bristle brushes tend to do).
I have also had good success with an old reliable tool, the Ballast Spreader, for the initial layer of ballast:
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Here is their website http://www.mlrmfg.com/noframes.html#spredsm
The ballast is inside the tube which has an open top, and at the bottom is a separate piece of plastic that fits between HO rails and distributes the ballast through holes that match holes in the bottom of the upper tube. By twisting the upper tube a little from side to side you control how large the holes really are. It takes a bit of practice. Because the plastic bottom fits over the rails it does a pretty good job of keeping ballast out of the way of the flanges. What it does NOT do well is turnouts, crossings, etc.
A small piece of rubber band is the bulldozer so to speak and needs to be replaced from time to time.
I also tamp down the ballast with an old piece of cork roadbed, running it down the track and tapping the ties in a sort of forward scraping motion
In fact after putting down the ballast I also take out my palm sander (without sandpaper on it) and just use it to “vibrate” the layout for a while. This seems to help the ballast to settle down without making it bounce all over the place.
Dave Nelson
Hint: Get a nylon ankle high stocking, and stick it in the shop vacuum opening, and then stick the hose in the vacuum. You can then vacuum up any excess ballast, and it will be caught in the sock and you can reuse it. No point in wasting ballast.
That’s a trick I’ve been using for years.
I found a cheap source of ballast in the sand tubes that you can buy from Walmart. I pretty much use the methods listed above, making sure to tap the rails with the handle that I use to smooth the ballast to bounce any loose ballast away from the rail webs. If you don’t, you’ll hear it when you roll any stock over that area.
That’s for sure!