Ballast on Rails

Fellow Ballast Brothers:

I am ballasting my Peco code 55 main line using Arizona Rock and Mineral real rock products. I use the alcohol to wet the ballast and then use a 50 percent glue/water mixture to hold in place. After completing the effort, I always have small bits of ballast that have wicked/capillaried themselves up to the inside of the rail. After this all dries, the engine/car wheels strike these small rocks, so they have to be removed. After that, I have to touch up the paint on the rail.

So...how do I prevent this wicking action? I tried using less glue between the ties so as not to flood the area. No help.

I tried flooding the area outside the rails and let the glue wick/capillary bach between the rails. Helps some, but the Peco ties, extending below the rails prevent complete coverage.

Any ideas? I will keep experimenting. I have a lot of ballasting to do.

 

I can't help with your problem, but where did you get the Arizona Rock and Mineral stuff? I've heard of that and was considering using it. I hear it looks pretty good.

 

Russell:

I do use the detergent in the glue mix and it does solve the surface tension problem. I am pretty sure that my problem occurs when I fill the area between the rails with glue. I mean, it fills up like a pond, just between the rails. It fills up because I put that much in there before it can soak in. Maybe others don't do this? Then, after it is puddled between the rails, it slowly dissipates down into the ballast. I was hoping to be able to apply it outside the rails, but maybe being a little less aggressive with the quantity will help.

I presume others do not apply as much glue at one time? Do you make multiple applications? Do some use other techniques to apply the glue?

Thanks for the help.

 

Hoss:

I got my AZ R&M from N Scale Supply. I bought it over a year ago. Don't know anything about getting it now; I presume it is available. It is much better than non-rock type material.

Also, I use regular sand (in a bag) from Lowe's for sidings. It is silica and is a little clear when you put it down, but has a very nice texture after it is painted. I do paint all of my dirt areas. Price is good and you will have enough to last two generations.

 

I would suggest putting less water/glue mix on at once.Also,try watering your mix down a bit more.It will still stick with very little glue.(in proportion.I think I use just over 25 percent glue.)

 

Flash,

I'm no expert on this, but when I started with Code 55, I had the same problems, no matter what ballast I used.

I "solved" the problem by using less ballast between the rails, and more on the outsides. I wet (and wet and wet) the ballast before applying a 1:4 glue:water solution. Still, I found I had to run a fingernail up and down the inside rails for a long while. I'm sure my fellow white-collar workers thought I was an unwashed, uncouth fellow for a while, due to my dirty fingernails. But I found that, if I kept at it, I got most of it out of the way.

Pete

 

I think you all have it. I just tried ballasting by using less glue mixture. I put a drop every three-four ties. After that soaked in, I repeated the process as many times as necessary to soak the area with glue. At this time, it looks like that solved it. Flooding the area between the rails is at least a major contributor to making the ballast float or wash up on the rails. I will check tomorrow morning to be sure. I am pretty sure it will be better.

I do think that reducing the 50 percent ratio will help, too. I will try that. Seems like that at one time I thought that 25 percent was too little, but maybe not. I will try that again, too.

But, everyone said that flooding was bad; that must be the clue.

Thanks to all. I will report again tomorrow.

 

That was the problem; too much liquid. I had that idea originally from seeing guys pour the glue into a scenic area and flood it to get all the foam and other details to adhere to the surface. I just, incorrectly, carried that over to the track ballasting. Funny how you can be wrong about something like that for so many years.

Alan pretty well summed it up. I will say that I learned most of my techniques from HO layouts, although I can't imagine that they did what I did to the track.

I cleaned the rails this morning and that was it! Put an engine and a few cars on the track and they ran with no problem. Thanks to all. You are never too old to learn. Seems simple now.

 

BTW, I sift the sand for size. I have a ballast size filter and a find dust type filter. These are paint filters from a hardware store. Also, I use a magnet to check for unwanted material types in the sand. So far, all has turned up negative for magnetic particles.

 

BTW, I sift the sand for size. I have a ballast size filter and a find dust type filter. These are paint filters from a hardware store. Also, I use a magnet to check for unwanted material types in the sand. So far, all has turned up negative for magnetic particles. </font>[/QUOTE]What size filters do you use? Do they have a number like sieves do? If not, how are the sizes indicated.

 

On my next ballast attempt (soon I think), I'm going to try and build it up VERY slowly, so that the you're ALWAYS only gluing a small amount of ballast at a time (layers, not linear).

Hmmm... I know what I'm doing during my spring break now

 

BTW, I sift the sand for size. I have a ballast size filter and a find dust type filter. These are paint filters from a hardware store. Also, I use a magnet to check for unwanted material types in the sand. So far, all has turned up negative for magnetic particles. </font>[/QUOTE]What size filters do you use? Do they have a number like sieves do? If not, how are the sizes indicated. </font>[/QUOTE]Inkaneer: I do think they have a number and they are in micron sizes. But they are very large like screen wire that goes in a window. I use that screen wire size to sift for ordinary ballast for the yards and sidings. A finer size is used to make dirt roads. These filters are the ones that go in the large power paint sprayers.

One of the interesting things about this, to me, is that the sand/silica is really just texture. Painting the rails and ballast (in effect weathering) really makes it look like a large open field of dirt. Unpainted, it has too much depth because you can see through the silica. I can even see the blue foam board below the sand as much as .25 inches below the surface of the sand. Maybe I can post some pictures this weekend to show you. I don't really say that this is the best method. Lots of foam might be better. But I have very large areas to cover and this is the most economical for me.

 

Here are some pictures of the sand ballast.
Unpainted ballast. The discolored area in the top center of the picture is where a blue magic marker was used to draw on the foam board. It still shows through the unpainted sand.


Here, the sand has been painted. The idea is to make the sidings appear to have the ties completely buried in the dirt. I may have to add some more ballast to achieve this, but using the sand ballast first creates a base and helps to hold down costs.



Track is Peco code 55. The last thirteen pictures in my Rail Images album contain views of other ballast areas and roads. You can view these at this url:

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/robertblackman

[ 13. March 2004, 20:24: Message edited by: sapacif ]