I’ve been ballasting track on my micro inglenook layout this afternoon and I really hate this part of model railroading…[:(] I’ve been thinking on my next micro that I’m planning to use track with roadbed already done such as kato or bachman or whatever. Anyone else out there ever switch to that type of track? Did you like it, hate it? Please give me the pros and cons of such a move.
Thanks
Bruce
I used a bit of Unitrack inside a tunnel to fix a kink that had developed in my flextrack. No way that I was going to try to lay new flextrack in a tunnel that was already built!
Anyway, the Unitrack poked an inch or two out of one portal, so I had to paint, ballast, and weather it to match the rest of my track.
Having seen Unitrack next to my own ballasted, painted, weathered track, I’m just not sold. Yes, the integral-roadbed stuff is easy and reliable, but it just… well, just doesn’t look real to me.
Lots of guys have used Unitrack and then painted and ballasted it on their whole layouts. It looks much better, but it’s actually harder I think to ballast pre-ballasted track, so in the end no effort was saved. All you get is the reliability, which, if you’re not careful with your glue, you can kill anyway.
I recommend perservering, if possible. I think your track will look much better in the end if you ballast by hand. Take breaks. You’re not going to ballast your whole layout in a night or two! Not unless you have some hardcore patience and a steady hand.
I guess thats part of my problem is that I’m impatient, I want to run the trains but cant because the glue has to dry over night and I usually have to redo sections etc. I guess I’m looking for the easy way out but there really is none if I want to do a decent job
Bruce
I want ez track but right now i have power-loc but it is fine i have the scenery,dcc,the trains what else could a 12 year old ask for at this point in time?
A bigger layout? Back to ballasting. I would got with Dave. To me the uni-track dosn’t look realistick. I saw that on the MR project layout The Black River Juction and it dosn’t look right. Even when they tried to make it more real, the color of the ballast they had didn’t match the pre-ballasted track. Just take your time. If your really unpatiant, look for other projects to do on your layout.
On the topic of ballasting…
Is it ok to put the ballast down, clear the inside of the rails so trains can pass through, and then spray with scenic cement, then clean the track once dry? Or will that ruin my tracks?
three best roadbed tracks…
trix
kato
ez track
true track maybe…
Have you used all three of those?
How do you know if you haven’t?
I probably have over 300 pieces of EZ track. It works really well for what I need, though the turnouts only come in one size, and that’s annoying. My dad has about fifteen good quality Peco turnouts from the 80s that I’m going to use in my yard to save space. They’re brass though.
However, I’m probably going to end up using a lot of the flextrack I have lying around from when my dad got into MRRing for the front of the layout, and use the EZ track for the back sections. I’m either going to ballast the EZ track or find some way of taking the sections of track out of the plastic. It’s really stable, conducts well, but it doesn’t look all that prototypical. Has anyone ever taken the track out of the plastic roadbed before? If so, do you have any tips on how to do it?
I find ballasting very therapeutic - except when I accidentally knock the baseboard and ruin a couple of hours work.
Jon
My layout is all Bachmann EZ Track. The turnouts are #4’s, #5’s and #6’s. I have no problem ballasting the majority of it. I use a fine ballast with a little medium thrown in.
How do you glue the ballast to the roadbed? Straight glue, 50-50 ? How about around the turnouts?
Bruce
I use a 70/30 mix of white glue and water with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid mixed in. I apply the mix with an old Elmer;s glue bottle. This gives me pinpoint accuracy and helps in keeping the glue out of the moving parts of the turnouts.
One trick I did was to paint the cork roadbed with the stone type spray paint before laying the track. It looks better than unpainted cork.
Thanks for the info. I may go with ez track on my next project and use your suggestion for ballasting. Sounds like it may be easier than what I’m doing now and possibly less frustrating.
Bruce
I am not sure that you can do this without destroying the track. Atlas sectional track is inexpensive (a LOT cheaper than EZ Track), so I’d just go that route.
Do you just paint the roadbed and lay track on top or do you also use ballast too?
If you ballast Bach EZ track, your still going to have the problem of waiting for it to dry.
Ballasting is a pain in the lower Sacrum. No matter HOW careful I am, I’ve always got those little boulders sticking to the inside of the rails, and have to go over the track with a fine-bladed screwdriver, a Brite Boy and a vacuum cleaner. And yes, he said, (Gasp!) I used some Bachmann EZ wide radius (34"-36") track on certain sections of the Yuba River Sub, simply because it WORKED! And it still had to be ballasted. Diluted Elmer’s glue (70-30) or WS Scenic Cement (EXPENSIVE!), and a spray-bottle of water with a couple of drops of Joy dishwashing detergent–you can use alcohol, but NOT if your railroad is in a garage!–about six different kinds of paint-brushes, everything from an artists brush to something you might want to paint the outside of your house with, a lot of patience, a ‘breathing’ mask (so the neighbors don’t actually HEAR what you’re shouting), and after it’s dried, be prepared to clean, clean, CLEAN!! Have a whole slew of Brite Boys handy.
It’s a pain in the Sacrum.
But oboy, does it look GOOD, after!
Tom [8D]
That’s going to happen no matter what track is used, so it’s neither here nor there. The main thing that has to be learned in model railroading is patience.