A simple and effective way to ballast...

[foulrift]

Points well taken. I read on another forum that 70% should be that max. strength used. 90% has been known to eat the paint off rails and ties. Bob

[tetters]

I should have mentioned that if your water is especially hard, an alcohol/water mix may be preferable. I like the water /detergent because it's cheaper, and I find the vapours given-off by the alcohol irritating. I'm curious, though: does the alcohol have any effect on the dyes used to colour most scenery products? And does it break-down the oil that I suggest using to keep switch points from getting glued in place?

Wayne

I've used alcohol and detergent. I prefer the 70% iso alcohol as it seems to promote better capillary action when applying the glue and water mix. The alcohol seems to have no effect on stained/painted ties or the ballast itself.

[RobertInOntario]

You can use isopropyl alcohol, available in a 50% mix at the Dollar Store.,as the wetting agent for this type of situation. Surface tension is almost non-existant, and it will make sure that the glue mix goes where it needs to without oversoaking.
Andrew

Wayne,

This is an excellent review. I can now do ballasting pretty fast and easily, although my results don't look as neat as yours!

BTW, I use the isopropyl alcohol as Andrew mentions. I first saw this recommended in a MR article by Joe Fugate. The alcohol really seems to hold the ballast in place -- no worries at all about the ballast/glue mix moving around or running. ... Having said that, maybe I will still try the dish soap water mix as well. I just handn't tried this because the alcohol method seemed to work so well and I thought "if it ain't broke don't fix it!"

Thanks, Rob

[Sarge]

Doc......Thanks!! I put your method to the test and it was so easy. Of course, this was my first atempt so I have nothing to compare it too.
I used the soap/water mix and it worked fine for me.

Here is what I have so far, what do ya'll think?

[doctorwayne]

Looks pretty good to me, Jim, as if it had recently been ballasted but not yet tamped. Do your turnouts work okay? The ballast looks fairly deep, which can prevent the points from moving freely.
Here's a couple pictures of some real track, for reference:

   

As you can see here, nothing wrong with covering the tie tops, either, as long as it doesn't interfere with operation:

   

Along with painting the rails, ballasting is a low-cost and low-stress way of improving the look of any layout, and you're off to a great start.

Wayne

[Sarge]

Thanks Doc. You're right I do need to clean out some of the ballast on the left track and the turn outs. Although it dosn't realy matter if the work or not, the track ends about 2" in front of the loco I just wanted to build a small engine facility type scene to take pics and try out all the stuff I learn here

I am still planning on weathering the ballast on the inner tracks and planting some more grass/weeds around the concrete.

Thanks again

[BR60103]

The correct and approved way to ballast:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lonf7Nf-byg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lonf7Nf-byg</a><!-- m -->

[doctorwayne]

Tank car load of white glue and water on the next run, I suppose?

Wayne

[tetters]

Tank car load of white glue and water on the next run, I suppose?

Wayne

Can you imagine?

Great video by the way.

[BR60103]

British Rail have been experimenting with glued ballast in certain places. (Also plastic ties.) They found that the lower bits wash out -- noone told them about wet water or alcohol.
(Actually true -- the first 2 sentences, anyway.)