TRACK BALLAST

I used something called Granny Grit I believe. This was in NC. I thought the look was great and the cost was cheap. Granny Grit is smaller size chicken grit. Never had the need to glue it down either.

Paul

Yes, Rockstar, first started using it for our ducks....  Then looked closer at it a thought, why not?  It is real granite and the size is good for ballasting.  Purchased at the local Tractor Supply store in Mustang, Okla. and it comes in 5 lb bags, very inexpensive, and is a mix of colors... prototypical.

Jesse    TCA   12-68275 

Gran-Grit, Starter size does make a great ballast and a 50 lb. bag hoes a long way. It is made from real granite.

Doesn't granite based ballast have magnetic qualities which do not play well  with early open frame motors?  Not that there are many of them still roaming around.

I'm closing in on the need to ballast a whole  lot of track and  many yards.  After purchasing several large containers of commercial ballast I am open to an alternative.   How do shingle granules compare?

Tom Tee posted:

Doesn't granite based ballast have magnetic qualities which do not play well  with early open frame motors?  Not that there are many of them still roaming around.

I'm closing in on the need to ballast a whole  lot of track  many yards.  After purchasing several large containers of commercial ballast I am open to an alternative.   How do shingle granules compare?

If your concerned about magnetic material being in the ballast I would recommend first checking the product with a good magnet. I would also check each batch of purchased product as each batch could have different quality materials.

I would think that if you strained the material with a colander and then washed it, it would eliminate any magnetic contaminants. Granite itself is not significantly magnetic. But, it can contain magnetic trace materials, so as Rustyrail says, check each batch -- easy enough to test with a strong magnet. If you are still worried, clay-based kitty litter is the standard alternative for inexpensive ballast, and is never magnetic.

I used the Chicken Grit from Tractor Supply,  It was a little oversize but looks great and fairly cheap.  I also live in North Carolina.

Tom Tee, I used roofing shingle granules. They work great. I do run some of my post war engines over the rails that have been ballasted and have never had problems. The only problem about the the roofing granules is to find someone local who might carry them. A fifty pound bucket is very costly to ship.

Rick

My layout uses starter size crushed granite chicken grit exclusively. To get it to the desired color (if you want to change it) you dump the stuff in a 5 gal pail and toss in some thinned medium gray vinyl hobby paint available at Walmart and Michael's.  Stir it with a stick a couple of times a day allow it to dry and the result is plenty of ballast for the lowest price around. The grit that I used was somewhat fine but the color was an off white. While different colors of ballast are prototypical, the gray color looks best to me.

Nick,

Being a Northeast Ohio guy yourself, I have purchased all the chicken grit I will ever need probably from Perry Coal and Feed in Perry Ohio.  They have the starter chicken grit in 50 pound bags for around 10 dollars (or at least that is what is cost last year)  

Here is a picture.

Tom Tee posted:

Doesn't granite based ballast have magnetic qualities which do not play well  with early open frame motors?  Not that there are many of them still roaming around.

I'm closing in on the need to ballast a whole  lot of track and  many yards.  After purchasing several large containers of commercial ballast I am open to an alternative.   How do shingle granules compare?

While i have ballasted my entire right of way, i did NOT ballast my yards but rather left them with nothing more than dirt on the ground. In some yard areas i lightly (and not so lightly) sprayed some flat black from a distance to simulate oil stains.

I used Tractor Supply chick grit (small size ) and sprayed in a plastic bin with granite colored paint from a rattle can. Once it dried it was easy to apply and glue down with the Super Snap track. 

Ed Kazarian

Tom Tee posted:

Doesn't granite based ballast have magnetic qualities which do not play well  with early open frame motors?  Not that there are many of them still roaming around.

 

I ballasted all the track on my layout with Gran-I-Grit chicken grit. I stuck a magnet in the bag and 1 or two particles stuck to the magnet. I just layed it down, glued it, and it has been fine for years. I run engines with Pullmor motors/Magne-Traction and they've never picked any of it up. The big key is gluing it down.