Sharpie slip-up

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m sure most of you more experienced folks know not to do this, but I thought I would share how I have now also gained the knowledge and experience necessary to avoid this particular pitfall.

I was getting ready to lay the track for a lumberyard industry on my layout. This spur will not have a raised roadbed; it will be laid directly on a plywood base and the ballast will merge into the gravel of the lumberyard. So, I carefully cut the 30" section I would need and formed the slight curve leading into the yard that it would take. The plywood joins with the spline that forms the roadbed for the remainder of the track, so I knew I would need to take special care in allowing for an expansion joint.

Since the yard does not have a roadbed to guide my application of caulk for the track, I grabbed a black Sharpie and marked the outline of the track. Now I had a guide for the caulk. Being careful not to “color outside of the lines”, I spread a layer of caulk and installed the section of track.

Several days later, I came back to the section of track ready to spread the ballast. I used a light gray fine ballast for this section. Fine ballast is very tedious to spread and I spent quite a bit time getting it level and off of the ties. I soaked the entire section in 70% alcohol and started drizzeling on the 50/50 solution of water and white glue. Much to my amazement (and chagrin), the alcohol had caused the Sharpie ink to bleed into the ballast. Much to my horror (and dismay), the color was purple!!!

I hoped it wouldn’t look so stark after it dried. It looked worse. I hoped that I could paint over the purple. It looked worse. The only good thing was that it only bled from my Sharpie guideline outwards. It did not get between the ties or the rails.

Last night I scraped the purple ballast off. Tonight I’ll paint over the affected areas with spar varnish. Tomorrow,

2

When the darn markers first came out I used one to mark some sheetrock - then I learned how to remove sheetrock!![:O][:I]

3

I actually use the danged things on my N scale people. You REALLY have to be awake with those markers… I might have, in above situation, left some as a paint spill…

4

I’ve used Sharpies in just the manner you described and had no problem, but I use a few drops of dish soap to cut the surface tension in my ballast/scenery cement (no alcohol). I’ve tried alcohol, but I like soap better.

I never would have guessed that alcohol would do this with Sharpie ink.

By the way, if I’d been in your spot (with the purple balast) I’d have tried applying a little clorox to see if the purple would bleach away. No guarantees, but it might have been worth a try.

Better living through chemistry.

5

FYI…best thing to use to remove Sharpie ink…denatured alcohol