I am at a point once again where I have been running trains and have had track painted but just can't muster up the will to ballast. This always seems to be a holdup for me. How many of you like to ballast? Mike
Dislike it greatly! Definitely a fussy and time-consuming thing that doesn't always turn out to my liking. This may explain whay I've only completed ballasting on about 6' worth of track. Russ
I don't know if I'm the exception to the rule, but ballasting seems to go quick and easy for me. All I do is spread out the ballast evenly with a brush, then glue it down with 2-parts water/1-part Elmer's glue with some detergent mixed in to help it spread, using a medicine dropper to apply it. Much less messy and a lot easier to clean up than a bottle spray most people use! Shoot, it took me all of a couple hours to ballast a small 4x8 Plywood Central RR. After giving the glue a day to dry, I use a minivac to clear away the loose ballast. Voila!
I dislike ballasting: Everything runs great (and quite) before ballasting, but once the ballast comes down the trouble starts: Increased noise level (I guess that the ballast builds a vibration bridge accross my cork roadbed) and all the small gravel bits that foul my switches. Yikes. Cheers Dirk
I feel your pain , I do not really mind the balsasting but rather the cleaning of the frozen turnouts and inside edge of the rail and the rail heads. I guess it is really the cleanup and getting the trains to run after. I did find that running a pencil along the inside edge of the track will remove any stuck balast and also leave a kind of nice blacked inner rail edge. Mike
I don't mind it. It takes a lot of patience and believe me in the begining stages I was pushed to the limit trying to free those stuck turnouts.
I'm not fond of it either...Patience is the key...that and this tool: Available from Home Depot - Lowes, etc... Discussions here: Ballast Issues Ballasting Turnouts This is one of my least favorite things to do but it didn't go too badly this last time, thanx be to the goddess of track ballasting, "Spreadstherocksevenly" (An American goddess) and that tool, recommended by Russ and Scott in that first thread. It ain't the neatest way to do it. But I reckon it looks pretty prototypical.
I don’t mind it that much, but it is tedious. One of the worst aspects of ballasting is that you can’t move the layout or track around, you have to move around it. This makes reaching and bending over the layout awkward and uncomfortable. I will admit that ballasting around switches is a real pain in the @$$. But patience is a virtue, especially in this hobby. Tom, thanks for the tip, im going to Home Depot tonight and give your brush a try.
I don't mind it too much, but I've had a problem with ballast coming back up, which drives me crazy. I wet it with 50/50 water and alchohol (using a dropper), then used 50/50 water/white glue in a dropper. Then big chunks come up several days later. AAHHH!!
Ballasting......hmmmmmmmm.... For me, ballasting turns a nice time playing with trains on the layout into a home-made version of hell. I have enough trouble with my temper, I don't need that aggravation... especially with fouled turnouts! Its sad, really.... i *know* things would look better with ballasted track, and I really admire the look of (and the time and patience involved in) a well-ballasted pike. But not for me.
Usually Not In This Railroader's Actual Construction Knowledge. I can't remember a layout that I've actually done any ballasting on. I was to anxious to get trains running and buildings placed. I have worked on club layouts and left ballasting to others... only to admire their work. [ February 08, 2006, 12:47 PM: Message edited by: Calzephyr ]
I hate it too! I simply can not get it down cleanly. I ran for months without ballast, testing the track. No problems. I ballasted. Problems all over the place. Yet, it's essential. I don't mind doing it: I hate my results.
I don't mind ballasting although it takes a great deal of time. The complete ballasting of Unitrack is very time consuming as you just don't have that much room to place the ballast between the ties. The end result is very rewarding as the complete ballasting of Unitrack give the track a very realistic appearance. I can only do about an hour's worth of ballasting at one session as it's so time consuming. Stay cool and run steam....
While it can be time consuming, I don't hate it. I look forward to what comes afterward. A nice looking roadbed! Boxcab E50
I LOVE it! I put down 48' of ballast in two hours! Of course, I cheated and used Arizona Rock & minerals ballast, which is real rock. I'da done 4.8" of Woodland Scenics in the same time!
I LOVE it! I put down 48' of ballast in two hours! Of course, I cheated and used Arizona Rock & minerals ballast, which is real rock. I'da done 4.8" of Woodland Scenics in the same time! Tony, That's not cheating! That's smart!
