This should be a quick one: I bought some Woodland Scenics gray ballast at the hobby shop. The shop sells mostly HO, but have some O stuff too. The ballast did not say what gauge it was. I wanted to try ballasting some Gargraves track I laid. The ballast is very fine. Are there different scales? Did I buy HO size, and is that too small? Sorry, I don't have pics right now.

I heard about rubber ballast from Scenic Express. Is that a better choice?

I love the pictures of the ballasting work some of you have done. I would love to try the darker color approach to match midwest trackage, but I need to blend my ballasted track with my grey Fastrack on other parts of my layout. I'll make the light grey compromise for now.

George

George, the Woodland scenics ballast comes in different grades, fine, medium and course. Not necessarily scales.
Generally, the course is used for O gauge, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Different railroads also use different grades of ballast. The medium would just be a finer grade. On the back of the package it list the different scales and sizes.

quote:

Originally posted by Vulcan:
George, the Woodland scenics ballast comes in different grades, fine, medium and course. Not necessarily scales.
Generally, the course is used for O gauge, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Different railroads also use different grades of ballast. The medium would just be a finer grade. On the back of the package it list the different scales and sizes.

Thanks Vulcan. I'll take a look at the package and let you know. I seem to recall that now. It may be medium. I doubt I went with fine.

So many use coarse? That might be why mine doesn't have that rugged look that I see in some of the pictures here. The medium may match the Fastrack better though. I'll have to experiment some more.

The Woodland Scenics course ballast is much finer than the Scenic Express medium ballast. I do think the WS is more for HO.

FWIW, I used a wash of black on my RealTrax to darken it a bit.


Rand

For what it's worth, on my On30 layout I use of mix of WS ballasts. The mixture winds up being about 1 part coarse gray, 2 parts medium brown, and 1 part medium gray. Even in O, I find that the coarse is too large for the region I am modeling but the medium is just a little too small. The mix seems to give a little variety in size and color.

Jim

Rand and Jim,

This is helpful. You are giving me lots of ideas. I'll try some of your suggestions and work on some small areas until I get the right look. I hadn't thought about the Fastrack wash. I'll add that to my list.

George

I've never used Scenics Express ballast, so I can't compare. This shot sorta shows the comparison between medium (parking lot) and course (ballast) from Woodland Scenics. To me the course looks to be pretty good size for what I see in my neck of the woods. I used a gray/white blend.

That's agreat pic Vulcan! That helps. I see the coarse look here, too.

Your overall scene is very nice. I especially like to muddy water, filled, potholes in the parking lot and the chain fence.

I agree, Vulcan! Nice pic!

i'll third that ... nice pic vulk!

Quote:
"This should be a quick one...." George S

George,
You should know that we can make any question a full-fledged discussion!

That's what makes the scenery forum fun!!!

I've been using WS coarse as the basic ballast, but I sift a small amount of medium or fine over the top just before bonding. It seems to soften the appearance a little. A grain of coarse ballast approaches 1/16 inch which is a scale 3", a bit big by itself!




I don't worry too much about matching ballast colors. Here you can see a transition from gray to almost black as the mainline enters my city (under the front of the engine).

Real railroads used whatever color of rock came out of the quarry last. Seldom were they exactly the same color from one carload to another. Moreover, weathered ballast will look different from freshly ballasted track.

I think variation in ballast color can make a railroad look bigger, too. Anything that gives you some variation in your mainline can make it look longer.

The siding in the foreground is ballasted with fine sand which better simulates a less well maintained roadbed.

My pet peeve is mixing almost white ballast with black for a mottled salt and pepper effect - never realistic or attractive. A mix of several colors like Jim193 describes above, on the other hand, is very realistic.



By the way, Vulcan, nice pic and really neat chain railing.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Policastro:
Quote:
"This should be a quick one...." George S

George,
You should know that we can make any question a full-fledged discussion!

That's what makes the scenery forum fun!!!

Jim,

I enjoy the scenery forum most. Best of all, I am learning enough to detail parts of my layout that I thought were beyond my abilities a year ago. The pictures help a lot. I hope to have some to post myself soon!

Your ballasting work with the variety of colors is great. I also like the look you created with the sand as ballast, and I like the tall grasses you installed along side the track. I assume those are Scenic Express? I think it would be neat to combine those two effects. We have siding tracks on some interchanges here in Chicagoland that have gone unused. There is not much ballast on that track at all, but there are lots of tall grasses growing between the rails. I need o find a spot to do that on my layout.

Thanks for the comments.

George

George,
I use Brummy's #2 Light and dark gray ballast on the Main Line. 5 pounds is $18.00 and will do about 60ft. It is ground rubber, comes in many sizes and colors.
I see you live just down the road a piece, maybe we can talk trains. Give me a call at 847-543-9086.
I'm trying to start a informal 3 rail scale organization and looking for interested parties.
George

Comparison of Fine and Coarse.

The road is a fine grey Woodland Scenic ballast and the track ballast is Coarse Buff.


The roof of the roundhouse is a mix of fine grey and a black. Works well for a build-up roof look.

I am a big fan of rubber ballast. The stuff I use is a bit oversized, but I think it's been a good fit to the scale of the GG flex track and Ross switches.

Here you can see how nice it looks in the scene...


Here is an up-close look... if the wheels were scale and the track was 2-rail then the ballast size dould look out of place... but to my eye, I'm already making the scale-look compromises appropriate to this ballast's look.


Looking for the quietest possible track, I used rubber ballast with latex for the bonding agent instead of white glue. Works superbly. The later sections include foam roadbed as well, another big improvement when used with a flexible ballasting system. I used to have a web-tutorial with video on laying rubber ballast... maybe it's time to revive it...

Check out Brennan's Better Ballast

Great topic! I'm no where near ready to ballast anything yet but when I do I want the "midwestern or even western look" to mine. When I look at the UP or BNSF near me it has a brown or red cast to it instead of the grey or black on eastern roads. I have considered Woodland Scenics using the buff color or using Brennan's Better Ballast. I was also interested in the possibility of gathering real ballast or gravel and sifting it myself. Not just to save money, but to get a more realistic looking ballast.

I do not think it is wise to use kitty litter although I see where many people do. Chicken grit is another product frequently mentioned and it might be O.K. if you can get the color right. It would save a lot of money.

Any pictures of what you have done so far?

Art

Here Is a shot of the ballest that I'm using all around my tracks. It is Starter Chicken Grit.
Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Hartman:
Here Is a shot of the ballest that I'm using all around my tracks. It is Starter Chicken Grit.
Dennis

Oooo! I like that look. It has a bit of the salt and pepper look that Jim doesn't like, but I like that could be solved by mixing in a small amount of iron colored gravel. I understand this is crushed granite? Why do they call it Chicken Grit?

George

George, I think it has something to do with the digestive tract in chickens.

By the way, after the grit is cleaned & dried, I take some & dye it. I don't use it very much at all when mixing. I use the darker mix around the engine yard. Even with the light mix formula, it looked too dark for the main lines where it use it straight.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Hartman:
George, I think it has something to do with the digestive tract in chickens.

By the way, after the grit is cleaned & dried, I take some & dye it. I don't use it very much at all when mixing. I use the darker mix around the engine yard. Even with the light mix formula, it looked too dark for the main lines where it use it straight.

Dennis

OK, now I am confused. Sorry. You need to clean it? You can dye rocks? It comes in colors?

I hope I am not wasting your time. Where do you buy this? I thought it came through roofing supply dealers.

Hartman,
The tunnel walls look good, too. Plaster of Paris or Hydrocal on walls? More economical and nice change from wood liners

quote:

Originally posted by Chugman:
Great topic! I'm no where near ready to ballast anything yet but when I do I want the "midwestern or even western look" to mine. When I look at the UP or BNSF near me it has a brown or red cast to it instead of the grey or black on eastern roads. I have considered Woodland Scenics using the buff color or using Brennan's Better Ballast. I was also interested in the possibility of gathering real ballast or gravel and sifting it myself. Not just to save money, but to get a more realistic looking ballast.

I do not think it is wise to use kitty litter although I see where many people do. Chicken grit is another product frequently mentioned and it might be O.K. if you can get the color right. It would save a lot of money.

Any pictures of what you have done so far?

Art

Art,
Let me take this opportunity to shamelessly promote the next issue of OGR (Run 230) which features my Red Rock National Park. You'll see that Woodland Scenic brown ballast blends nicely with western scenery.



The reddish ground cover was a red sand I found at the pet store meant for lizard dens. I mixed a little with the ballast in places.

Lots more photos in the article.

Jim

George S.
Yes. You must rinse the chicken grit because it is very dusty, and glue does not stick to dusty ballest rock, ties and track. Besides, we fight dust enough on our layouts, so no need to add more. I bought a 50 pound bag for (I don't remember the exact cost) $8 to $10 at the local Agway store that handles all kinds of farm needs.

Jim M Sr.
That is Plaster of Paris that I work with. I also put chicken grit on the tunnel roof before instalation. This area gets alot of first sight looks from visitors, so I wanted it to look sorta realistic.

I have a couple of photo albums posted over on the Photo Album Forum. They have already moved to the second page. Just look for "Hartman" under "Topic Starter"

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Policastro:



Art,
Let me take this opportunity to shamelessly promote the next issue of OGR (Run 230) which features my Red Rock National Park. You'll see that Woodland Scenic brown ballast blends nicely with western scenery.



The reddish ground cover was a red sand I found at the pet store meant for lizard dens. I mixed a little with the ballast in places.

Lots more photos in the article.

Jim

Jim, you know we just received June/July and now you are teasing us with August/September

Rand