Removing ballast

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Nick8873
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Removing ballast

#1

Post by Nick8873 »

Hi is there a method of removing ballast not quite happy with the grey thinking should gone with a different colour Image
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teedoubleudee
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Re: Removing ballast

#2

Post by teedoubleudee »

If its stuck down with pva just spray water on it and the pva will disolve. Can be a bit messy so protect surrounding area.
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Nick8873
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Re: Removing ballast

#3

Post by Nick8873 »

yeah only used pva il give that a go thank you
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Steve M
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Re: Removing ballast

#4

Post by Steve M »

To add to what TWD said, spray it with plenty of warm soapy water and let it soak. Remove any track pins first so you can slide a thin wallpaper stripping knife under the sleepers to ease the track up without damage.
You will then need to remove the last of the ballast from the track - I soak the track lengths in soapy water and scrub with a scrubbing brush.
Then make sure all the old ballast is scraped away from the track bed before you re-lay the track.
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Walkingthedog
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Re: Removing ballast

#5

Post by Walkingthedog »

When I lay ballast I use a mixture of 10 to 20% PVA TO 90 to 80% water. Ballast doesn’t dry like concrete, more like toffee, much easier to remove.
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dtb
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Re: Removing ballast

#6

Post by dtb »

Walkingthedog wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:49 pm When I lay ballast I use a mixture of 10 to 20% PVA TO 90 to 80% water. Ballast doesn’t dry like concrete, more like toffee, much easier to remove.
nice tip Brian
Nick8873
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Re: Removing ballast

#7

Post by Nick8873 »

thanks for the tips sprayed it with water and did soften it quite easily just gotta decide what colour/grade of ballast to use any ideas would be great :?
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Walkingthedog
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Re: Removing ballast

#8

Post by Walkingthedog »

I used this colour but you can always change the colour with paint, particularly where locos would stand.



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