I have my track laid on cork roadbed and it’s wired and trains are running and all that good stuff. I was planning on ballasting the track next before I start on structures and scenery, etc. But, I purchased the Kalmbach book on How to do Model Railroad Scenery and in there, the author says you should ballast the track last?? After the ground cover is put down? Does it matter and which way have you all done it?
Thanks,
Mike
It doesn’t matter really. I started ballasting the track before the ground cover and other scenery was done. Structures have been last to make it on the layout.
Hi!
When you have total satisfaction in your track and wiring, and your basic scenery is done, then I would think about ballasting. Up to that point, you can still fairly easily remove, rewire, and change stuff. After ballasting, well then it all gets a bit messy.
That’s just what I do, but its not set in stone (pun intended)!
I think most of the more experienced modellers would recommend that you ballast several weeks after closing up/off your rail-laying and having a chance to use if for a while. Once you know you have it right, then is the time to go ahead and make it look fully scenicked. For some, I think Doc Wayne as an example, it can be months later.
Crandell
I am doing it last, however I don’t see why you couldn’t do it sooner, rather than later. I would paint my rails before ballasting though.
Brent
I try and do it the way real railroads did it.
I lay the road bed and track, wire it and get it running.
The next step is to paint the ground around the track and apply some fine ground foam of a brown blend in the wet paint.
THEN I ballast the track. (Ballast goes on top of dirt. Ballast first and you can get dirt on the ballast when applying scenery, which is not what you see on a real RR.)
The next step is to apply grasses and bushes etc. Not to bad if you get some grass on the ballast because that you will see sometimes.
I have to agree with mobilman here, at least that is how I do it.
Rich
Several weeks?
A few months later?
Nuts, I wait a year, it takes me that long to get my track work right. [(-D]
Rich
Well I got it going both ways, but not intentionally. I started laying track by pinning the track down on the roadbed and putting ballast ONLY between the rails and securing it with alcohol followed by white glue mixed with water. This is what is actually holding my track in place. I remove the push pins after the glue has dried. I will follow up with ballast on the outsides of the rails when my scenery is in place so that I don’t get dirt and grass on top of the ballast. NOW, I am using caulking as a glue to hold the track down, which I didn’t know about until I was about 25% through the ‘track laying’ process. What a great method, wish I knew about it a year ago. Now I will wait for the scenery before ballasting. As everyone says, it is a matter of choice.
Bob
I am using the Central Valley ties and turnouts. I ballast before the rail is glued. Looks great. On my older modules I ballasted after the scenery base was done. That was not with hand laid track.
Pete
One thing I have seen mentioned, whenever you do your ballasting, is to not do too long a section at a time. The reason for this seems to be, if your ballast cement gets into the rail joints it can mess up your electrical work. By doing a short section, then running your trains you can find a problem more easily if one should occur. You can do short sections in several places, then run trains to check for problems.
Good luck,
I will have to respectfully disagree with the author of that book, I had the pleasure of visiting the layout of one of the staff members of MR’s home layout who has had his track work in place basically sitting naked on roadbed for over two years.A few key scenes have been completed but that was strictly for photo ops etc. The flaws of track work can yield their ugly head at the most in worst possible times so great care needs to be taken to make absolutely sure your track work in 100% trouble free. If not instead of having a model train layout you have a very expensive diorama.
Once you are satisfied with the operation of your railroad and the functionality of your track work and detailing of same such as painting rails and tie plates etc.and ballasting is the next logical step. Why would anyone want to work around over and on top of track side scenery, structures etc. Yes the prototype way is completely different but we need to always keep in mind we are building a model not recreating the world in miniature.
So we can and need to do things out of step so to speak. One tip I have picked up that works quite well for me is to paint your roadbed ballast color or as close to it as you can. It helps hide little sins so to speak in spots where ballast may not have taken. You can always go back and reapply later on. This is a good thing to do before you even lay track but if your track is down you can still paint the ballast shoulders with a small brush taking care not to hit the ends of the ties. You need not be concerned with the other end where ground cover is going to eventually be.
I waited about four seasons to ballast. This gave me plenty of time to run trains to fully test everything and allowed track, subroadbed and roadbed to acclimatize to the room and layout. A few kinks did develope during that year and were easily taken care of. I also painted all the ties and rails during that time (and no ground cover to get paint on). I did do scenery, I just didn’t get too close to the tracks or covered the track with painter’s tape when working near the track, (which I continued to do once it was ballasted).
The ballasting on my MR was the last thing to go in (in fact, I’m still working on some sections). I have a “California Basement” (garage) layout, and I waited until I was satisfied that the trackage would remain trouble-free (or at least as trouble-free as HO track in an uninsulated garage can get, LOL!) before I started ballasting. By that time, all the scenery was in and most of the buildings.
In my case, it was best to do the ballasting last and let the track–and wiring–go through at least one complete change of seasons. So far, it’s worked.
But don’t take my solution as The Word–I simply did what I thought best for my particular situation.
Tom [:)]
I’ve done it a variety of ways. I personally believe the order is whatever floats your boat. All work.
For handlaid track, it’s much easier to ballast when or after the ties are laid, but before the rails are spiked or glued. But I’ve actually enjoyed putting in the scenery basics before even putting the ties down. Then I feel like I’m laying track through the country side.
I’ve used the same technique when modifying existing sectional and flex track. The area is already scenicked, and I decided to modify the track configuration for expansion or for other reasons.
At other times, I’ve never gotten around to ballasting sectional and flex track. So in those cases, the ballast would be last. Certainly with sectional and flex track, wiring and testing is easier before ballasting. But I’m not a believer in testing for months - I wire up the newest track and put on my pickiest rolling stock for an hour or two. If it runs fine, the area is ready for scenery or ballast - which ever I feel like doing first.
A caution from my experience - if you use cork roadbed and/or Atlas flex track, you might want to ballast almost right away. The natural spring and give in both the cork and Atlas flex will cause the track to move slightly until the ballast locks it in place. Which is one of the reasons I use Homasote for roadbed, and often use sectional track on a 180 degree 18" radius turn. Of course, my prefab track is really just a place-holder (can be s
Since I just completed ballasting my N scale layout (after everything else), I would recommend doing it before, reason being that it is just too complicated to manuver between scenery and buildings to do so.
Good luck!
I have a question for you on your post on 10/26/10.
I am in the process of putting down track on a new layout. I am using flex track on Woodland Scenics foam Track Bed, which I glued to 2 inch foam insulation, using Elmers white glue.
Will my track really stay in place if I usewhite glue/water and ballast? Or will I have to glue the track? You mentioned using caulk, what kind, and how?