I have just finished laying and testing all my track and engines on my new layout. I am ready to start working on the scenery. Should I add the ballast to my track first? I think I want to add some signal lights to my turnouts to tell me which way the turnout is switched from a distance instead of having to look at the turnout. Should I add other track signals and trackside utility boxes and such before I ballast? What’s the best practice?
Thanks.
It’s not a best practice, but ballasting is about the last thing I do.
I really don’t like ballasting personally, and I know that the trains will run just as well without it, so I’m in no hurry. I do generally like to have all other trackside scenery done so the ballast goes on last.
I also like to have some time with the trains running before I ballast, in case something has to be torn up and done over.
If you get a can of textured spray paint that is about the same color as the ballast you plan to use it will look good and not be in the way when you do ballast. Also, it means you don’t need as much ballast around your turnouts, so there is less danger of ballast fouling your turnouts.
Have fun,
Richard
i don’t mind ballasting at all, and find it goes fairly quickly …
best time to ballast is usually a tuesday night just after dark, lol
I think that’s the best practice there is. I ballast last to protect it from being damaged by any other scenery work.
I have done it both ways and feel that, with proper attention to details, either way will produce acceptable results. However, I find myself increasingly doing the ballast last because it should look like it came last (doesn’t it in real life?), and I hate hot glue stringies all over everything.
Once the track is in place and functioning flawlessly, I put most of the plaster-on-screen landforms in place (otherwise, much of the ballast would have slid off the cut-out plywood roadbed, and through the open grid benchwork).
Following that, I paint the rails using a 1/2" chisel-type brush, and once that’s fully cured, it’s time to ballast.
I generally ballast in 10’ or 15’ lots, including turnouts and double track.
Painting rail and adding ballast is the biggest bang-for-your-buck that you’ll ever get in model railroading, so why put it off? It’s very low-tech, and also very relaxing to do, and can be done anytime…for 5 minutes or 5 hours-at-a-time (or more).
Here’s my procedure for ballasting:
I keep seeing comments about people dreading having to ballast their tracks, or, from people who’ve tried and not had success, about what a crummy task it is. What follows is my procedure for ballasting - there are others that work as well, but this one uses readily-available and cheap tools and materials. And it works!
The choice of ballast is up to you - I use both Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast , and real rock ballast, too, on my HO scale layout, but there are many other brands and sizes available, and plenty of colours. If you use natural materials, like sand, dirt, or decomposed rock, it’s best to use a magnet to remove any magnetic inclusions that might possibly damage the motors in your locos.
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. Don’t use the brush to brush the ballast around, especially the WS ballast, as it’s very li
I have just about completed the “landscaping” of my new layout which has been in the works for nearly 3 years. To me, “landscaping” includes ballasting and the addition of various forms of ground cover.
I guess that I must be a contrarian since the replies so far all seem to be ballasting last. I did it first. My rationale was that I wanted a clean, manicured ballast, against which the ground cover could be applied. Having done so, I think that was the way to do it - - - ballast first.
Rich
Yep. Ballast last, after most scenery is down. To me it’s a no brainer. This how it is with real railroads. Ballast goes down and is draped over what ever is around. It only makes sense to imitate the real world. Plus, by then you will hopefully have plenty of time to be sure the track is all working well.
After laying track and painting it, I created the large adjacent scenery such as hills. I then procrastinated for years on ballasting and finishing scenery, and got into converting locos to DCC/sound, etc.
I determined to finish the layout this year. Investigating the ballast approaches, I liked the idea of adding painters tape about 1/4" or so (on the plywood) from my cork roadbed. I then painted the roadbed sides and the 1/4" adjacent space with 100% white glue and dusted that lighty with ballast, to add some “tooth” to the sloped sides. Then I completed the ballasting between the rails and on the sides. The tape was pulled up when things were still damp (from glue and sprayed on 50% IPA),which leaves a fairly consistent width to the ballast. This method also gives a nice slope, somewhat less than the more severe 45-degree slope of the cork. I like the overall effect.
I added scenery details after that, such as ground foams (fine and coarse earth), clump foliage, small bush fragments.
IMG_7251 (2) by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
This was only the first time I have completed a layout; i…e., ballast and scenery. I did my research and wanted to use the edge tape for the ballast, which would have been impractical for me if I had completed the adjacent scenery first. I would probably do it again that way, but I believe many of the experienced folks prefer to ballast last, so I will keep that in mind if I get to build another layout.
If you don’t mind scenery bits in your ballast it doesn’t matter. If you don’t mind ballast bits on your scenery it doesn’t matter.
If you want the ballast to look like it is “on top” then do it last.
For low use low maintenance branch lines and sidings it could look right if you ballasted first to represent weedy contamination. For main lines ballast last because likely in the prototype that ballast was lifted, cleaned and replaced “not so long ago” and the model looks right if the ballast looks more recent than the scenery.
I am not going to try to convince anyone to do the ballast first, but here is my rationale as to why I ballast first.
On my last layout, I decided to ballast last since that is what is done on the prototype when new track is laid. But, ballast last caused me a problem. I used a blend of Woodland Scenics Medium Gray and Dark Gray and some of the ballast found its way into the ground cover. It didn’t seem that noticeable to the naked eye but the Gray, which is actually a light gray, showed up as white in photos. So, every time I took a photo, it was annoying to see white specks in the green ground cover.
So, on my current layout, I did ballast first. I used Scenic Express #40, a blend of Gray and Dark Gray. After the glue mix dried to secure the ballast, I vacuumed up any stray ballast. Then, I applied the ground cover being careful not to get the glue mix on the ballast. After the glued ground cover dried, I simply vacuumed up any loose ground cover that was on the ballast. I think that the results are great.
Ballast first.
Rich
The prototype, when laying new track, works upwards (before mechanized track laying). Earth graded, ballast put down, ties put in place, rails spiked to the ties, details (wiring, joint bars, etc) last. When I handlay track, I do the same. In an ideal world, I’d do at least a scenery rough-in before I laid track. But access issues rear their head in the real model world.
So for handlaid track, roadbed put down, possible scenery rough-in, feeders attached to rails, ties stained, rails painted, ties glued down, ballast done at same time as gluing ties, ties sanded and restained, rails shaped and placed, feeder holes drilled and vacuumed, rails spiked. Track tested and done. The ballasting and rail painting, as well as unevenly stained wood ties, does wonders to make my handlaid track look much better than the commercial track.
When using commercial track, I usually never get to ballasting (or rail and tie painting). Which I believe (no proof) has been the cause of crumbling of my cork roadbed (I try not to use it anymore). I believe the ballast glue seals cork and slows or stops the drying out that causes cork to crumble.
Fred W
…modeling foggy coastal Oregon in HO and HOn3, where it’s always 1900…
Good to know. Just as long as it doesn’t interfere with Football.
I’m not touching that one with a 10 foot pole.
I remember sometime ago, maybe years ago this topic was brought up and one member made a remark / statement about this subject that I followed and never forgot. I can’t state it exactly but it was words to the effect of " the dirt, scenery, trees and bushes were there, then the railroad came and ballast was put down last and trains started running"
Random observations.
First is that ballasting does not have to be done all at once, there can be subsequent applications. Indeed it is common to have to “touch up” your ballasting to get the final look you (meaning, I) want: to the top of the ties in the center of the track but the tie ends are slightly exposed, so a slope in both directions from the center.
Second is that is you do decide to ballast your turnouts, and there has been much back-and-forth in these Forums on that topic, maybe better to do that early in the process so that if you do have to remove a turnout and start over you are not also having to rip up much scenery, wiring, etc.
Third is that while dirt came first and then ballast, the entire right of way along a railroad is manipulated to railroad standards with cuts and fills and drainage arrangements so there isn’t much “natural world” in the vicinity of the tracks. I find it personally easier to bring my newly applied scenery to the edge of the ballast so I can get exactly the look I want for the ballast, rather than the other way around where I can always think of a work-around for the scenery.
So on my layout some of the track, particularly in “busy” areas with lots of turnouts and crossovers and such, was ballasted first. Some of the long expanses out in the country have yet to be ballasted or are very lightly ballasted (see paragraph below for what I mean by that).
I might also add that because I use adhesive caulk to lay my flex track, I hate to “waste” anything so while the caulk is still wet and “setting” I add a bit of ballast and tamp it down between the ties using an old piece of cork roadbed as a bulldozer. Subsequent applications of ballast, if needed, go on top of that.
Whether ballast comes first or scenery, both create little messes that need to be cleaned up and both have the potential for getting stuff stuck on the tops
I never ballast until I am happy that operation is nearly flawless.
As to whether ballasting should be before or after scenery, I really do it both ways, not a problem. It is one of those six-to-one/half-dozen-to-the-other situations. Both ways have pros and cons.
It all works.
-Kevin
I do not ballast until I am confident that no additional tracks need to go in to improve the operating system. 20 operating sessions?
Also if you are going to paint your rails, do that before ballasting.
Painting rails. If using a spray gun or a spray can, I would probably do them first. If hand painting, or with a fine spray and good hand, I would paint the rails AFTER ballasting so that some of the overspray/bleed would go down off the rail foot and onto the tie plates and ties…just like in the real world.