On my last layout, I used WS glue over the ballast, it made the ballast rock hard solid, which is fine for me, but when the trains went over it, you could hear lots of noise over the tracks, which took away realism.
I assume the noise is due to WS glue, however, this will be the only type I will use. I’ve tried a few drops of dish detergent mixed with water…Elmer’s glue mixed with water, but I prefer WS, its easier for me and works well.
After it dries, would it be a good idea to take a paper towel soaked with rubbing alcohol and wipe down the rails, will this get rid of the excess glue? I’ve tried using an alcohol soaked paper towel just after glue application, but that turned out to be a real mess, never doing that again.
Overall, I’m very happy with my ballast job, I think it loks very realistic, but will it create that awful loud sound again? I sure hope not. Thats the only thing left for me that makes ballasting so exhausting and futile.
Btw, almost forgot, when is it safe to run the trains over the ballasted track? Will about a day suffice?
I wish I knew the actual reason why it does that but it may be just a coincidence but I’ve noticed that happening with Woodlands ballast and not other brands. As far as the method of gluing down the ballast what works best for me is a 70% isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle and 5//50 Elmers white glue &water.
Again don’t know the chemistry behind the why it works better then wet water but it does at least for me anyway. After spreading the ballast down as your suppose to I spray the entire area with 70% Alcohol and then the mix right over the top, you can actually watch it wick to where it comes out the bottom between the ties. I clean the rails after thoroughly drying with a Bright bar which works very well. Same thing I used after painting and for normal track cleaning. I would say let the stuff dry over night then vacuum up any loose stuff. I have found that it’s some times necessary to go down the inner side of the rails with a pick and remove any stray pieces of ballast that get caught up in the web.
Never heard that one before. Yes, after the ballast is dry, you really have to clean the rails. I use 600 grit w/d sandpaper or a scotch-brite pad, sometimes followed by an eraser. You also have to check the inner rail edges for ballast/glue residue - that might be your problem.
As long as the ballast feels dry and hard your safe to run trains. Over-night is usually enough, but sure, 24 hours might be better.
BTW - I’m talking about N scale here. Larger volumes for HO might take more drying time - never tried it.
The time to start thinking about noise reduction is before you start building your layout. 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch sub-roadbed is better that 1/4 inch or Luan, or a foam covered table. The more sold your layout construction is, the less noise you will have. A soft type roadbed material is better than a hard type. Cork will dry out and become hard, Homa-bed or WS foam roadbed will have less noise. Elmers glue is hard when dry, and I suspect that the WS glue is too. A softer glue would be Matt Medium (Mod-Podge). It is sort of rubbery when dry but will still hold ballast good. Mixing and applying is done with water and a few drops of detergent like Elmers.
These are all techniques that one learns over time and with experience. You can get guidance from groups like this, but some will not agree all the time with the technique put forth.
Thanks for all of your help everyone. I actually switched to WS foam bed yesterday (a lot cleaner and easier than painting cork black), it also looks better. I ballasted the foam with medium size ballast, a 50/50 mix of light gray + cinders. Luckily the cinders match the WS foam bed exactly, so I didn’t have to glop too much ballast on the road bed like I normally would to cover up the cork.
I am very satisified with the end results, the color looks great, and the texture, although slightly oversized gives it more of a rocky look as opposed to the dust like texture of fine size ballast. After letting the glue set for about a day, I used a spare rail joiner to wedge out pieces of ballast stuck to the inner sides of the rail, then I vacuumed any loose material up. After this I took a wet rag damp with water and lightly scrubbed the top and inner parts of the rail as best I could, getting up some hardened glue residue and dirty smears from ballasting.
So far I have run all my trains problem free, no stalling, and I am actually happy with the sound, its not loud. I think the WS foam really helps absorb some of the sound. Although it takes more care when laying, I think its better than cork, in my opinion of course.
I have an idea I am going to try in the near future. The floating floors like Pergo require a layer of foam under them for cushinong and to facilitate the floating ability. That stuff appears to be dead flat and about 1/8" thick. I find that cork is way to high for my tastes. I suspect that it will go a long way in knocking down the noise. A roll of the stuff that is at least 12’ x12’ should do quite a bit of railroad and is about $30.00. It should be fairly easy to lay it down and then the tracks before cutting out the scenery areas and reusing what was removed elsewhere.