A friend is setting up operations on his layout but it sounds like his mainline ballast is not a different color from other tracks. Are there are common ways that modlers/operators differentiate the mainline track from the others?
He’s putting green paint and red paint on his ground throws to show normal/divergent routes but he was wondering if there were other ways to show new operators which track is the mainline-sign posts at yard throats, anything else short of changing the ballast color?
Using some darkening washes dribbled along the secondary tracks to grunge up the ballast is one solution. Painting the rails on those lines a rusty, grungy color will add to the effect. Adding weeds and other stuff so it instrudes more on lines that aren’t the main can alos help.
Signage is another way. Mileposts follow the main. Depending on the prototype there are other signs that might be useful in a similar manner.
Make the ballast and ties between the rails of the main line a blackish color to make it look like it has been heavily used by diesels that are leaking oil. The branch lines that are lightly used wouldn’t have as much oil as it is used less.
The main line would be cleaner, with newer ballast. Ballast on the main line is replaced and maintained with great frequency, while ballast on the sidings is not.
Oil Drips? Oil dripping from a locomotive moving at 40 mph would not be noticable, oil from a locomotive sitting on a siding for hours at a time, and then moving only slowly would be far more visible.
That said, the sidings in Richardton are brand new, built by the ethanol plant. All of the stones are clean, as are the stones on the mane lion. Aye, but they are not the same stones. The contractor building the sidings bought his stones from a different quarry than the one the railroad used. There is a dip from the mainline down to the ethanol sidings, but that too is not consistant. The mane lion is fairly level where as the siding actually goes up hill, so at the west end of the plant it is below the BNSF grade, at the east end it is well above the BNSF grade, and must come back down to it.
The physical configuration of a switch does not help either. Sometimes the main line takes what otherwise would appear to be a diverging route. Not so much in the world of BNSF, but in the world of NYCT this is common enough.
Still on your model, the mane lion should be easily discernable to a bystander at the table side. Weeds, a change in ballast color and size is a help, and some sidings have almost no ballast at all. The sidings at the ethanol plant are built to mainline standards with good ballast and drainage, where as the tracks on the team track are old with almost no ballast discernable.
In the Rockaways, NYCT seems to ballast its route with sea shells. Actually, the tra
Cinders, cinders,cinders! Everything except the mainline should be ballasted with cinders. The railroad had ample supply of these and they worked well on secondary and yard trackage. The rock ballast on the mainline still had a cinder sub-roadbed.
Put the mainline on HO scale roadbed (5mm) and the other tracks on N scale roadbed (3mm). That way, the ballast, even if the same color and size, will slope off a higher profile on the mainline compared to the slope off a lower profile on the other tracks.
If everything is a light colored ballast, I would put washes of grimy black or India ink on the secondary track until it is easily distinguishable from the mainline. If everything is already a medium gray, then adding weeds is probably the best bet.
Pete, just got back online, so heading over to MRH next. Yep same question, same guy. Thanks for replying.
Guys, my friend’s layout is already built and ballasted so the signage, weeds added to secondary lines (additions) would be helpful. I’ll relay this thread’s replies to him.
Sounds like signage would be easiest and a better guide for his beginning operator/guests than more subtle things like weeds on secondary lines, etc.
Thanks! I’m trying to help him so he’ll invite me to operate
In some cases there is no difference between main line and passing track…Other times the passing track is lower then the main but,its still well maintain.
Regular branch lines usually has dirty ballast,light rail and sees little maintenance.
Industrial branch lines may have old worn dirty and spotty ballast covered in dirt and weeds while others are maintain.
Industrial sidings may be earth covered with no signs of ballast.
I thought I might be losing it. Although I already find myself looking for a tool for almost a half hour when I had it in my hand 35 minutes ago! And I don’t know how many times I went into the other room to get something, only to turn around and try it again because I forgot what I was getting.
I’m 62 and I have 5 flashlights in 5 rooms along with 5 pairs of reading glasses and I STILL can’t find 'em when I need 'em! Good thing we can laugh at ourselves!
I’ve passed on your suggestions and my friend will implement some of them. It turns out that some of his double track mainline is not ballasted yet so he’s going to start with mileposts, signs and maybe some removable labels on the track for the upcoming session. He asked me to thank you for further ideas.
