Hello all, new to the TrainBoard. I am about to start my little N scale empire and to be honest do not look forward to ballasting the track. I worry about glue on the rail, in the switches and along the rails such that it would cause derailments. I am using Atlas C55 so all rolling stock is low profile wheels and not very forgiving. So, I was wondering if anyone had ever applied the ballast to the cork before the track goes down. I was thinking of gluing the ballast on the cork and rolling the track surface smooth with a roller. Then gluing the track on top of the ballast. I know the ballast would not come up between the ties but with the track being painted and weathered and the ties so thin I would think it would look okay. Anyone try this? Any comments? Thanks,
Welcome aboard!! Good to have you with us. You have come to the right place! In my experience, this would be prohibitively difficult. I use Atlas c80, and ballasting after laying the track seem to work best. This is for several reasons: 1. Forgiving. If you lay a piece of track,a dn ou don't like how it is, too tight, kinked, etc. you have the option to cleanly and easily remove the track, and relay it the way you want. With ballasted track, this quickly becomes a mess! My track has been laid for over 3 months now, and only after I am totally satisfied with the way everything operated, I ballasted some of it. If you have any electical gremlins to figure out, the best time to work them out is BEFORE ballasting. 2. Ballasting before the track is laid may work for the prototypes, but not in model railroading. Granted, it looks proto with a deep ballast shoulder, but the hassles involved would almost make a preacher swear! 3. Getting the chance to run your trains over unballasted tracks gives you an idea if you need to change anything. This means running your longest cars, your biggest locos, your longest wheelbased equipment. If you have a problem, it is worlds easier to pry up track with a putty knife and redo it, rather than loosen all the ballast, get it all over everything, tear your hair out, utter a few colorful expletives while trying to remove and relay the track. Most of the time, you might as well just toss that chunk of track, as it is mangled beyond use after prying up from ballast. My point, I hope you understand, is that ballasting after you are fully, beyond the shadow of a doubt, certainly satisfied with the way the track is laid is the only way to go! You'll save many headaches afterwards.
