Model Railway Forum

Although I live in Virginia I am making a British model railroad. Since I lived in London in the early 70s, that is roughly the era I am doing. We have spent time in the Yorkshire Dales recently, and I have the Settle train station so that would be the area. What ballast material do you recommend and what paint color to weather the rails?

Is the DCC Concepts ballast good or is there a better alternative?

I have the track down and the trains are running, so the next step is scenery, rails, ballast, etc.

Thank you for any advice.
David Enghauser

Forgot, OO gauge.
David

Hello David, sounds like an interesting undertaking. I live in Texas, hope you have better model British rail resources than I! Let me know if you have a stateside source...

I'm fairly lazy and prefer to get things up and running with a minimum of fuss. My quick-and-dirty method is to take whatever roadbed, foam or cork, and give it a good hosing with Rustoleum Textured Spray Paint, that comes in a variety of colors. Once dry, it can be washed over with a thinned black to give relief to the texture, or not. I preferred to leave it alone, as the black foam gives it a nice cinder sort of look as it stands. Once dried, it can be placed under the track. See "Henley" under "Personal Layouts" for the result.

I believe there are a couple of manufactures of pre-cast roadbed, Peco is one, not too sure about Hornby.

My reluctance with stone ballast is that it is extremely hard to control and the glue-water mix runs everywhere, carrying ballast with it. A drop of detergent is recommended to break the surface tension, but it doesn't do much for me, it still runs. Then once the glue-water mess is dried, one has to spend hours scraping off the rails with an abrasive eraser to prevent electrical fouling. If the glue-water mixes in with the delicate points, you are really in trouble. Lastly, once that glue has set, it is very hard, if nigh impossible, to take up the track or reuse it. Adjustments to the connections also become quite challenging as the track is now fixed.

On the other hand, some people have infinite patience and a very steady hand and make very good ballast, it's really not for me, though.

There are many products out there for the purpose of ballasting. Having used it, very briefly, I would suggest you stay away from the foam underlay type. It does not look realistic does nothing for reducing running sound* and deteriorates over time.

The traditional, if i can put it like that, method that Chops outlines, does indeed take time and can be messy depending on your patience and control of materials, but it will give you the best overall result. I have read that a mixture of N gauge and OO gauge ballast is best for OO layouts. My local model shop sells its own concoction, which is very cheap and ideal.

It is easy to get up again when set, but you do have to wet it down and wait for the PVA to soften. Then using a pallet knife or wallpaper scraper you can lift it up with care. I have done this so I know it works and provides you with reusable track.

As for colour this is a matter of personal preference really. There are several manufacturers of Rusty Rail and ballasting weathering paints. Have you seen any of the You Tube videos on this subject? If not, have a look, you will probably be spoilt for choice.

R-

* I appreciate sound reduction was not one of your criteria but it is often the reason folk use the foam usually with disappointing results. Personally I like to hear the sound of the trains running.

Hi David - Woodland Scenics do a variety of colours and sizes of ballast. Many who model in 00 use the fine grade, but personally I think it looks like dust. I've used the medium grade, and mixed various shades to get the colour I wanted. The picture shows the main colour used which was a mix of grey blend, grey and dark brown (three parts grey blend , one part grey and half a cup of dark brown - mix well!). I had quite a lot to do, so each "part" was a cupful. Also my track is mounted on 2mm self-adhesive cork underlay. As your modelling "seventies" you can add some diluted black paint to the ballast where your diesels are sitting for any length of time - for example at the end of a platform, this represents the usual oil and muck coming from the loco.BB

IMG_0116 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Hi David I have heard and used N gauge ballast for my 00 gauge modelling.

Hi David, I've never tried ballasting for the same reasons that Chops mentions. What I did with my layout was glue 3mm cork over the entire baseboard and then paint it using acrylic paints. I used small pieces of very porous sponge to dab on the 'speckled' effect of the ballast (over a very dark base coat). The dabbing got a bit tiresome but I'm sure it's easier than actual ballasting. Obviously, if you are after a 'hyper-realist' effect, this wouldn't do. But for a good 'impression' it's fine. If Monet had owned a model railway, he would have done it like this! It's also easy to change.

Whilst standing on a real railway platform last spring, I was surprised to notice that the dry ballast was a delicate shade of pink. I'm not joking, but I confess that when I came to paint my ballast, I added a coat of 'mossy' green to tone it down a bit. Ian Alan

I live in a street that abuts a suburban line here in Melbourne so I sort of used a scale version of the ballast on that. Ballasting is a pretty simple process really but best done in short stints as it gets boring. I just spread the ballast on using a brush to work it between the sleepers, making sure that the movement of points isn't impeded and that the ballast has a neat and uniform shoulder then a quick squirt of water to moisten it, then the standard PVA, water and drop of detergent mix administered with an eye dropper to provide adhesion. It sets in about a day. If I've got to reballast a section that's worked loose I just put a dab of PVA in and drop the ballast onto it. I sometimes I vary the mix to use finer grades to provide variety.

I tried one of those ballast applicators that we see advertised but I find a plastic spoon is just as good and using a brush to neaten the spread works fine. Sometimes I think we tend to over complicate these processes. Years ago on the first layout I built I used sieved garden soil mixed with wall paper paste in water and applied with a spatula - once dry it was rock solid and look fine. The only things to worry about are that the points aren't impeded and that the ballast is clear of the wheel flanges.

I don't like those foam underlay strips that one lays the track in - they don't look realistic either in colour or texture.

I have started to ballast my track using a pva 50/50 mix with a drop of washing up liquid added to the mix but the ballast which is light grey has turned very dark grey almost black when dry. I tested the ballast with water only and it dried ok keeping its colour. Is it the pva that I have used (5 litre tub purchased from a builders merchant a few years ago and stored in my shed) or maybe the detergent reacting with the ballast. Has anyone got any thoughts ? Does the pva have a shelf life as it has stuck the ballast down ok?

Seems strange. I too have used old PVA again from a builder's merchant - I previously used it when screeding a floor and it was at least 10 years old. I had no problems. I used woodland scenic ballast and it dried the same colour as it started. Hope someone can help you.