How do you ballast switches. I tore up all my old stuff (ballast color didnt go well with what I was going to do). When I first tried to ballast a switch I had to dig some out of because it wasnt moving. Can anyone help
Colin
The only thing I know is great care. Simply do not get any ballast or glue near the moving parts. Though I have made some mistakes, I have not had much luck cleaning them out. I have found it takes ten times as long to clean one so it sort of works as it does to keep one clean in the first place.
I agree with Art.
Any ballast or GLUE that interferes with point movement is deadly. For that reason I do not ballast my switches. Railroads don’t glue their ballast either, (which is there for drainage).
WE don’t have drainage problems when modeling. It’s strictly for looks. Try coarse sand paper.
Fortunately, I had a feeling that this would come up again [:-^] so I “saved” a reply for just such an occasion. The highlighted area is specifically for turnouts:
To ballast your track, I find that a small paper cup (such as those kitchen or bathroom Dixie cups) gives you great control over where the ballast goes. I usually move the cup along the centre of the track, tapping it as I go, to keep the ballast flowing. Less than you need is better than too much, although a soft 1/2" brush is useful for pushing around the excess or levelling what’s in place. Then go back and do both roadbed shoulders in turn. Use the brush to level and re-arrange things as required, making sure to keep the ballast away from the throwbar area and the flangeways of the guardrails. To remove stray ballast from the tie tops, lightly grasp the metal ferrule of the brush between the thumb and forefingers of one hand, laying the handle across the rail tops, then, as you move the brush along the tracks, lightly and rapidly tap the brush handle with the fingers of your free hand. The stray ballast will “magically” bounce off the ties and into place between them.
If you’re also ballasting turnouts, make sure to keep the level of the ballast below the tops of the ties, and don’t place any ballast between the ties surrounding the throw bar. To avoid gluing the points to the ties, place two drops of plastic-compatible oil atop each tie over which the point rails move, one next to each point rail, then flip the points back-and-forth several times to spread the oil. Parking the points in mid-throw will also help to ensure that they don’t get glued to the stock rails, either.
You can mist the contoured ballast using either water and alcohol, or water with a few drops of dish detergent added. Either should work. Use a sprayer that will allow you to spray a fine mist. To avoid having the force of the spray dislodge loose ballast all over the
doctorwayne -Do you have answers saved for “track cleaning” “which couplers” and “which DCC system is the best?” too?[;)]
That’d probably save a lot of typing, but I don’t clean track, I use only Kadees, and all my trains run on good old-fashioned DC. [swg]
Of course, the answer that I posted above is the method which I use - it works well for me, but it’s certainly not the only way. I hope others will chip-in with their own suggestions. I have noticed, though, that many of us continue to analyse a subject to death, even after numerous posters have made almost similar suggestions, indicating that a particular method or material gives good results. While there’s nothing wrong with looking for a better way, (the “Open grid or L-girder” discussion is a good example), sometimes a perfectly good solution is already at hand. Eventually, it becomes time to quit yappin’ and “just do it”.
Wayne
Thanks so much!
There are several textured paints available now in spray cans. Find one that is close to the color of the ballast you are using. If you have foam on your layout, prepaint it with latex paint to protect it from the spray paint. I wish I had thought of it sooner and I would have painted the roadbed before putting it in place, even if only the sections that will be under turnouts. I’ve seen an article on it in MR, though I haven’t gotten my ballast down to see how well it blends. Even if it dosen’t match exactly, a little ballast blending could hide the change. Also, a change in scource of ballast can create abrupt changes even on the prototype, so it’s not unusual.
Good luck,
I ballast the turnout completely, just use a medicine dropper to apply the glue and keep it away from the throw bar. The turnout will work just fine with the ballast either side of the throw bar just laying there.
Depends on what stage you’re at in track-laying, MK. I handlaid all but the hidden track on the last layout I built in my ‘rents’ basement, so my methods are shrouded by the mists of time (45+ years, OMG!). However, when I started in on my Colorado Western–which was in the living room of my folk’s summer cottage, where I lived year round–I started using Shinohara Code 70 flex track and turnouts. (They were actually quite affordable, 35 years ago.)
I hied myself down to the Soo Line yard, which saw a lot of activity from the Rhinelander Paper Company Division of St. Regis. I’d had trouble with switch points and wanted to get the “skinny” on how the prototypes ballasted. Rhinelander is in “The Heart of the North (WI),” and the Soo Line left the area of the tie-bar free of ballast between the headstock ties! When I figured out my pattern for laying the turnouts, I merely painted the top of the Homasote Floquil’s Grimy Black. I ballasted only up to the hinges of of the switch points, just to be sure, and spiked the turnout in place, right on the Homasote (hey, it’s yard, ain’t it?).
I was using my own version of turnout links: drill a 1/16" hole vertically a tie or two away from the tie-bar (centered, of course), insert a length of 1/16" brass tubing, bend an “oil crane”–that’s a 90 degree bend, leaving enough stock to reach slightly past the tie-bar’s hollow rivet, then bend down an eight-inch or so to fit into the center of the rivet–in a length of 1/32" wire, seat the working end in the rivet, then bend another 90 degree bend down at the bottom end of the brass tube.
This can point in any convenient direction for the twin-coil switch machines I used, to clear any cross braces and such. I became quite adept at bending an eyelet in the end of the lever down below, and
I approached this in a less professional manner. I simply didn’t ballast near the switches but went as close to them as possible to make it look good.
I’m kind of with Trainfan on this–I ballast the diverging tracks UP TO THE MOVING POINTS and then just ballast on the sides of the rest of the turnout. That way, all points, moving parts and connectors are free. But be VERY careful to only ballast lightly on every portion of the diverging tracks and make sure that there is none on the frogs, on the ties, or clinging to the inside of the rails. That way, if I ever have to replace a turnout (which I had to, this summer), it will lift out without having to ‘dig’ it out, and brushing the sub-roadbed free of ballast will give you a clear, plain area to mount the new turnout.
Turnouts should be as free of ‘ballast’ as possible. I found this out some years back on my first layout. [:-^]
Tom [:D]