05-05-2010, 11:09 AM
TrainNut, the Santa Fe uses a "pink" colored ballast at least in the Southwest. When I picked up a piece, it appears to be some sort of lava like material. Since it has a red color, slightly lighter but not unlike the red rocks found in Arizona, Southern Nevada, and New Mexico, I've always figured that the Santa Fe had some sort of quarry in the Southwest where they got their ballast. Of course the red rocks of the Southwest are mostly sand stone with iron ore, so it is a different material that they use for ballast. I don't know if iron ore occurs in lava, but suspect that it is iron that gives the ballast it's distinct color. I think it is the same sort of material that Arizona uses for aggregate in much of their asphalt that gives a lot of their roads their distinctive "red pavement."