Ballasting - Part 2

Okay, you should have all your tools ready - pick, shovel, tamper - and your gravel is piled beside the rails. Put on your gloves and let's get to work.

In Part 1 I forgot to mention my ballast spreading tool. I use a small pill bottle to sprinkle ballast on my track. I've tried other tools in the past - a spoon, various containers, and a commercially available applicator that I borrowed from a friend of mine. You can safely assume how well those other things worked since I am now using a pill bottle.

I am doing mainline here so I am using the medium grey ballast. I dumped a bunch of it into a margarine container and scooped some into the pill bottle. I usually do the sides of the track first, so that if any ballast spills between the rails it won't overfill that area. The trick is to apply enough ballast to cover the roadbed, but not cover the ties. I just tilt the pill bottle and tap the side to lightly sprinkle ballast where I want it.

Ballasting turnouts presents a bit of a challenge. You have to be careful around the point rails that you don't apply too much ballast. It will prevent them from moving freely. Guard rails are another area you should be careful of. You don't want any ballast in this area that can cause a wheel to jump and derail a car. I usually apply only a very light sprinkle of ballast to turnouts. Some people don't ballast turnouts at all so free function is not affected. I prefer the look of a ballasted turnout.

After I've sprinkled a bit of ballast on I run my finger between the rails and along the edge to spread the ballast out and clean it off the ties. You can use your finger to level off high spots along the edge as well.

In tighter areas through turnouts I'll use a small brush to move ballast around and clear flangeways and point rails. A small screwdriver works well too.

Run a fingernail along the rail to move any ballast away from it. Ballast glued to the rail web looks very unnatural. It can catch a wheel flange causing a derailment as well.

Next, drip on some rubbing alcohol and soak the ballast really well. It will help to hold the ballast in place and act as a whetting agent to soak the glue into the ballast. Another option is to use water with a few drops of dish detergent in it. Both do the job equally well, but I find that the glue dries a bit faster with the alcohol.

Apply the glue in the same way, dripping it on the ballast. It will pool at first, but will slowly wick into the ballast. If you hadn't used a whetting agent the glue would just ball up and run down the slope, taking ballast with it.

Again, you should be careful around the point rails of turnouts. Apply the glue sparingly, especially close to the throwbars. They will get glued anyway, but if you use only a drop of glue near them they wont be too hard to free up. It will help if you periodically move the point rails or ground throws as the glue dries.

Once you have completed the area you are working on it's time to take a break and grab a coffee. I'll be back after the glue is dry for some fine tuning and tips for making your ballast look even more realistic.

Scott