Going to add ballast to existing track. Suggestions?

Nick

I use the old tried and true inexpensive method of wet water/glue ballasting. I distribute the ballast[in my case Brennans's] over the track with a simple paper cup and brush it out and off the tie tops.

I mix "wet water" in a gallon plastic jug, which is tap water with about 5-6 drops per gallon of dishwasher liquid[Palmolive,etc,].  I then throughly soak the ballast by applying with a mustard/ketchup type plastic squeeze bottles [$2 a pair from Big Lots/Dollar Stores].  You really want to wet out the ballast all the way through and you need to cover the floor underneath. Liquid will dribble down through wire holes to whatever is underneath.

 

Then I mix 50% "wet Water", 50% white glue in another plastic gallon jug and using a mustard/ketchsup squeeze bottle to apply it, I dribble it on the ballast covering about 3' of track at a time down the middle of the track and then over the profile on the sides. You need to really saturate the ballast as you did with the "wet water" so it will penetrate all the way through[ the "wet water" application enables it to penetrate, otherwise the glue mix will just ride on top of the ballast]. Don't worry about getting the glue mix on the ties, it will dry clear anyway. You can wipe off the rails with a paper towel as you go. You can come back after it dries out for a final cleaning of the rails before operating.

 

The process looks very messy and it is, but just use paper towels for any excess liquid and you will be suprised at how it dries out, retains the ballast [and track] and looks good. If you still have some granules on the tie tops it will easily pop off using a flat blade screwdriver, popsicle stick,etc. Do not apply glue mix near moving parts of switches.

s.  

Nick,  the roofing material is good but also take a look at 'chick starter' found at most feed stores. It's really cheap and is crushed granite or similar and just about perfect as miniature ballast. It's quite light in color and we put some in a tray and spray it with black or dark gray rattle can paint. This gives variety in the color and  you pick what you like. Try it!

Thanks for sharing. Don't recall finding this topic in the forum.

Stop by our web site to see how we ballasted our Ross track which is very similar to Gargraves.  http://www.bluejeansplace.com/...allasting-track.html

 

Incidentally, if your track is already installed, the blue painter's tape is great for protecting the top of the rails from glue when you're ballasting.

How do you ballast when the track is not installed?

I actually balasted my track twice. 

 

First time, I painted grey paint on the foam where the track was going to go (I do not use roadbed, just foam on top of the plywood), set the track in the wet paint and sprinkled ballast on. When the paint dried, I vaccummed up what didn't stick and coated it with Scenic Cement. At the time, 2 years ago, it worked well for my tubular track, looked good and was quick and easy. 

 

Fast forward two years...

 

...And that original ballast job looks like crap! It was more banged up grey foam than ballast and just looked poorly done with no "barrier" between the ballast and existing scenery. Thing mixed together and it just looked very sloppy and poorly done. I did pretty much what Dewey did. Eric Siegel did a nice tutorial on Youtube using, more or less, the same method. IMO, it looks much better. I've attached a few "Before & After" photos to compare. I later wound up ripping out a good section of less than one month old ballast to replace some track and a switch!

 

Before:

 

 

 

After:

 

 

 

When I was re-ballasting, I also took the time to make some big scenery improvements and not only make the layout look much better but also made the scenery and track ballast look much better. I'm quite happy with the results as when I did the scenery two years ago, I did it rather quick and poorly and am now going back and fixing it up. 

 

** Not sure why I can't get to see the larger version of the last photo...if you click the appropriate thumbnail, you can see a larger version of the last photo**

That's kinda tough. You could do it that way if you like a good strong sub base.

 

I use pre made plastic ballast sections and cheat a little on the weathering, rocks etc. For the switches (Ross) I have to install a bit of tape on the rails and proceed to layer the stone waiting a day between layers staying away from the points and wires.

 

Nothing (As a rule in my world) is ballasted until all track, switch and signalling is 100%

I'm with you Lee, I'd like everything to work before doing all that extra stuff.

Nick

 Did you apply the "Wet Water" treatment first.

Why glue. Get a lot of dust with the washer/dryer near by was thinking of laying it down and not glueing so I can vacum it up after a few years when the dust builds up and replace it again??

Use matt medium to glue the ballast and real granite from either Brennan or Scenic Express.  You can by matt medium by the jug and the stone in bulk jugs also.  They are sponsors of this Website and advertise in OGR.  Good products.

.....

Dennis

I just got done doing my ballast and the roofing granules work great ($50/100 lb bag) and are cheap.  I used white glue (Can be purchased at Menard's by the gallon for $15) and water (50/50) and couple of drops of soap, and soak it with a dropper until there the granules look excessively saturated (it seemed that the cork would absorb allot of the fluid).  As you are aware of, with out drop clothes the stuff seems to find holes in the table and leak through.

 

Doing the layout both ways, if I was doing this over, I would have ballast the whole layout first before laying scenery.  It is so much easier to shape and manage when on a flat surface as opposed to dropping the granules accidently into finished scenery.  

 

I also chose white roofing granules and covered them with brown latex so the ties also looked dirty when dry (Left are white granules and right is the white granules with dark brown stain, still wet).

 

If you do not glue it, I would say there is a risk of getting it in gears and after the first derailment, you will have a mess on your hands.

 

As a side note, I have had horrible luck by diluting the white glue and spraying through a sprayer for other scenery, for this application, Mat Medium is glue of choice.

 

Mike

I ripped up the first attempt to try again with what I found at Ace Hardware today:

 

 

EnviroHold. $20 for the jug. Mixed it 50/50 with water and sprayed the chick grit until saturated (the wet water "pre-soak" step is unnecessary with this product). I thought I would be able to wipe it off the rails no problem but this stuff starts getting tacky as soon as it leaves the bottle. 30 minutes with a track eraser and two sore hands later the rails were good to go. The only other thing was the glue left faintly visible yet still ugly stains on the ties. You can't really see them in the photos so I guess it's not too bad. Will cover the rails with painter's tape form now on. Other than those first timer mistakes, it came out great, and it's hard as a rock too. The only way this is ever coming off again is with a hammer and a chisel 

 

 

 

 

Oh and Mike, tell me more about the staining process. I like the weathered look!

25% paint (We used a dark brown latex, the )

25% white glue

50% water

A few drops of soap

 

Once the ballast was set up from the initial glue, we drizzled the wash over the ballast and ties, then wiped the rails.  The over flow leaking out of the ballast really helps to tie the scenery together