I am thinking of using stone ballast from Arizona Rock or Smith& Sons, but have a question on how much to get… Could someone tell me roughly how many feet of track a pound of stone will cover? Forgot to indicate that it will be in HO…
It varies, beginning with what scale you’re modeling… Please do us a favor and talk to Philip of Arizona Rock and Mineral at (928) 636-9275 for his recommendation. He’s been making and selling ballast for decades. We’d all like to hear Philip’s thoughts.
Mark
I agree…there are several variables, including the height of the ties and the height and profile of the roadbed. As a broad guide, count on using about 1 full measuring cup of the normal HO scale ‘medium’ ballast for every four or five feet of Code 100 Atlas flex track. It might go a fair bit further if you just have cork roadbed laid over flat plywood. Add some relief to the terrain, culverts, and such, and you could almost approach twice that level of application.
-Crandell
I make my own blend of ballast and thus dump the other makes into a central container and mix it up – so I cannot directly respond to your inquiry. What I can say is that the method I use is to lay the track with latex adhesive caulk (comes out white, dries clear although some guys use the gray) and put the first layer of ballast on the wet caulk.
The caulk comes up to nearly the top of the ties if you use the right amount. I tamp the ballast into it onto the wet caulk with a piece of cork roadbed.
That is a good (and very thin) first coat of ballast – and economical because it isn’t solid ballast down to the roadbed but only to the top of the layer of caulk. Also rarely is it enough for the final effect. So when that is dry I carefully go over the ballasted area with one of those foam paint brushes, or a cheap “real” paint brush, and gather up as much of the loose ballast as I can, resift it and reuse it.
The final application is more selective on areas where it is needed, using the more traditional soaking with alcohol, carefully positioning the ballast so it isn’t covering ties or sides of rails, and then bonding with matte medium or scenic cement. And again when it is all done I go over the area with brushes and gather up as much loose ballast as I can, resift it (to avoid clumps).
My point to this post is that 1) I know some guys go over with a vacuum cleaner without trying to salvage and reuse the loose ballast and 2) different ballasting techniques use differing amounts of ballast. It is probably not possible to estimate how much you use without knowing your method and what you do to salvage the excess.
Dave Nelson
I seem to recall Phil at Arizona Rock suggesting 12 feet of track ballast per bag. This will be rough but is a starting point.
Lance Mindheim
Visit the Downtown Spur at www.lancemindheim.com
I have been using the ‘117-2’ size of Arizona Rock & Mineral ballast and get about 12’-15’ of mainline track ballasted. This is Atlas code 100 flex laid on 1/4" Homabed roadbed. The depth of the ties and the roadbed makes all the difference in the world when it comes to how many feet can be covered.
Jim
Have been gone a couple days, I am using code 83 Atlas flex on cork. I will give Phill a call on Monday and see what he says.
Talked to Phill at Arizona Rock & Mineral today. As I loosely model PRR he recomended 1052 fine ballast for code 83 over cork. The said a bag, roughly 11 oz, would cover about 15 feet… To be safe I think I will use 12 ft as a guide. as to how much I need.