Track Ballast: Where is the light blue?

You can easily alter the color of real stone using an ink/alcohol wash. Just submerge the ballast in the liquid and strain. You can get many shades of ink in an art store.

Also, check out the aquarium stone section of a large pet store.

Be aware that railroad ballast is NOT limestone, but granite. In all my years of being on the railroad, I must admit that I've never seen "blue ballast". Everything is various shades of gray, and when it is weathered, it is even darker.

HotWater, thanks for the info.   My current driveway is granite, and it is a faint light blue.  At dusk it looks light gray. (It does have some very fine spiderwebs of white in it.)   Granite is cheap here at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I have repaired two low spots in my drive with bagged #57 limestone from Lowes, and the color matches very well.   So, I guess the color of granite can vary based on region.

Avanti, thanks for the tip.   I wonder if anybody has tried mixing color with the half white past, half water, mixture that folks brush over the model ballast?   Regular food coloring liquid is water based, so maybe it would mix right in? I guess I might try that before I go with the ink system.

Mannyrock, Some time ago around 1975 or so, I had the displeasure of being furloughed from my car inspector job with Penn Central. Several of us carmen were offered jobs with the PC track department. We were tearing out farm crossing and replacing ties. The ballast cars came and dumped this dark grey granite ballast that had a blue cast. The old heads referred to this ballast as "blue rock".  I do recall it was hard to hand tamp and a pain to deal with. But most of that type of work was hard to deal with anyway. We were on a section gang with no automation whatsoever. Glad that part of my railroad career lasted only six months!

@Mannyrock posted:

Avanti, thanks for the tip.   I wonder if anybody has tried mixing color with the half white past, half water, mixture that folks brush over the model ballast?   Regular food coloring liquid is water based, so maybe it would mix right in? I guess I might try that before I go with the ink system.

I would not recommend that. Adding color to white paste would make a kind of paint. I/A is a dye, and will look much better for what you are trying to accomplish.

Thanks Pete

@Mannyrock posted:

HotWater, thanks for the info.   My current driveway is granite, and it is a faint light blue.  At dusk it looks light gray. (It does have some very fine spiderwebs of white in it.)   Granite is cheap here at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I have repaired two low spots in my drive with bagged #57 limestone from Lowes, and the color matches very well.   So, I guess the color of granite can vary based on region.

Avanti, thanks for the tip.   I wonder if anybody has tried mixing color with the half white past, half water, mixture that folks brush over the model ballast?   Regular food coloring liquid is water based, so maybe it would mix right in? I guess I might try that before I go with the ink system.

Here in north central Arizona we have a lot of pink, peach, and light beige or light golden granite with some grays and whites mixed in.

@Hot Water posted:

Be aware that railroad ballast is NOT limestone, but granite. In all my years of being on the railroad, I must admit that I've never seen "blue ballast". Everything is various shades of gray, and when it is weathered, it is even darker.

Jack:

What is that "pink" ballast I've been seeing in some places?

By the way, I read an article in another publication regarding ballast sizing (using white sand) and coloring techniques. Rit liquid dye and kneading small amounts of sand in a small zipper locking bags can give you just about any color you want.

I don't remember why but RIT dye can be conductive and cause shorts.

Ed

How can we have a discussion about color and not have pictures?

A branch of the NS near my house (Maybe some blue?  Maybe not.)

An Industrial Yard near my work (I see blue tones here)

My ballast I use when I sweep my street. (Your call)

Have Fun!

Ron

@Ed Kelly posted:

I don't remember why but RIT dye can be conductive and cause shorts.

Ed

I have also seen it mentioned, possibly here or another forum, that there may also be magnetic particles in granite.

So I am in PA and around here most real ballast has various shades of blue and grey.

I have used chicken grit from my local agway, and it looked great, although slightly over scale if that matters, but not by much.

Sorry I didn't have any better real life pictures ready at short notice.   Also if Brennan's Better Ballast is still in business,  he had light blue.   For me it was too fine.  The chicken grit works for me, or just sweep the street after cinders are put down for traction after a snow storm.   But anyway is much better.

I have been using screenings, aka "moon  dust" concrete sand and possibly other names. I believe it is the finest sold at quarrys and building supply stores. I sift it through a window screen to get the small material. I use it for making ballast loads, but for track ballast the fines may need to be removed. It is gray. Iv'e not seen any blue shaded ballast, but from the photo by Ron 054, I would say that has a blue hue. I have seen red ballast here in NE PA, and a mixture of red and gray.

Ron,

Nice pictures.  In your first picture, you can definitely see some stones that are bluish.   If you picked out all of those blue stones, washed them, and paved your driveway, then that is what my blue granite driveway looks like. 

I've notice that my blue granite gravel has a good sprinkling of clear crystals inside the stones themselves. I think perhaps this gives then an extra ability to gather and  diffuse light in the stone, and is what makes them look really blue in bright sunshine.