Model Railway Forum

Were engine and goods sheds ballasted and if not, what do you guys use instead?

Engine sheds would probably have had a concrete floor - mine does. I used DAS clay but others have used balsa, card or plastic. For yard areas any ballast would have long ago been clogged up with ash and coal dust.
Many ways of achieving that as well - plaster drymixed with sand, ballast overlaid with a fine powder (Hattons do a pack including paint but I can't think of the name), real ash sieved to remove the lumps.
I believe goods sheds would have lightly ballasted, maybe concreted or even wooden boards.
Have you googled any images?

Most of the loco sheds I remember from my trainspotting days had concrete floors, so that's what I used on the one on my layout.
I used pinned the track down then used some flexible filler (from a well known DIY store) to form the floor. I then cut away a thin strip alongside the rails for loco wheels using a Stanley knife.

Thank you both I'll give those a go.

Concrete or somethinb similar as thwy are areas where people regularly walked. The reason ballast was applied was a way of draining track and holding it in place so it didn't move when trains passed over it. It also was a nice foundation to take weight.
An engine shed or goods shed didn't need to be drained from the rain, unless streams passed through it...

Some loco shed tracks had an inspection pit built underneath them. If you want to try that, Peco make a suitable kit.
I have one, but as an ash pit on one of the tracks outside my loco shed,

cheshire lines wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:03 pm Some loco shed tracks had an inspection pit built underneath them. If you want to try that, Peco make a suitable kit.
I have one, but as an ash pit on one of the tracks outside my loco shed,

I have the same set up, though by mistake! I had already cut a hole in the baseboard beneath the track before I realised it was the wrong track! Don't think it looks too bad though

Balsa surface in shed plus inspection pit.





More of the same.

I am struggling with a similar situation for a dock side layout. I have read of various ways of making a concrete surface but could you chaps here explain what you have done to concrete between the rails and create the roads for a dock side scene please. Mine will NOT be a small area like an engine shed.

Whatever you use to infill the rails, the most important aspect is to leave sufficient clearance for wheel flanges. Additionally, the surface of the road surface needs to be fractionally below the rail tops to they will be impossible to clean.
Another consideration is the texture of the material used which should match both inside and outside the rails or it won’t look right.

For me, the best ‘look’ is achieved by using DAS clay - rolled out thin, like pastry and laid onto the baseboard and up to the sides of the rails. Cut slightly thinner strips to lay between the rails - the trick is to cover the rail chairs on the outside but have the strips narrow enough to fit between the rail chairs on the inside.

The board should be painted thinly with PVA to get it all to stick. The surface can be smoothed with a very small palette knife and a mist of water. Before it drys joint staff in the ‘concrete’ can be marked in with a straight edge.

Finally a coat of suitable paint to seal it all in when dry.