Ballast question

[foulrift]

I recently realized that no matter how careful I was while ballasting my track I ended up with a buildup on the inside webs of the track in some areas. Although in most cases this cannot be seen it tends to produce an unwanted noise as the wheels passover the buildup. Is there a safe way of removing this buildup without causing and damage to the rails?
Thanks for any help. Bob

[Drew]

Hi Bob,
I've encountered the same thing periodically over the years, & what I used to do was after the glue had dried, I would take the pouint of a hobby knife, or a dental tool, & run it along the inside of each rail, picking off any stray bits that I found...This will not hurt the track...the worst that would happen uis that you could scrape off paint/weathering & have to re-touch the rail in places...

Lately though, what I've been doing is running the tip of my finger along the inside of the rails while the glue is still wet...it hasn't messed up my ballast, & it seems to take care of that problem of having to pick off the dried bits later...

You still need to check your pouints, frogs, & gaudrails when dry though, to make sure everything is clear...

[foulrift]

Thanks for the tip Drew.After I had ballasted the track and the glue was dry I used a tiny screwdriver to remove dry ballast from the inside if the rails. I had planned to recheck the switch points because a couple of the are a little stiff. I'ii give your method a try and see how it works. Bob

[upnick]

Hi Bob,

It sound like your ballast is floating before it dries to the inside of the rails ....... possibly surface tension ...... use this method and it wont move while drying .... spread the ballast between the rails & ties evenly with a soft brush with a small piece of wood gently tap the rails to bed it all down ....... add ballast if needed ... then spray at a distance with Methelated spirits or IPA alcohol soak the ballast ....... take a mix of white glue/ water/ meths/IPA third equal of each it should be the consitancy of milk, i apply it with a 50ML syringe for accuracy the meth/IPA sprayed on already will wick the glue right down to the trackbed.

I use WS trackbed which gives a quiete running good base for the ballast ...... a word of caution when mixing the glue etc add the water to the glue first the meth/IPA otherwise the glue will solidify with the meth / IPA.

The ballast should stay where you put it and none on the inside of the rails, wih this method spraying on a wicking agent allows you to dribble glue further away from turnout blades saving the problem of them sticking up with the glue.

[nachoman]

I have never done a ballast job that did not require cleanup afterwards. It's a pain, but my layouts have always been small, and looking it over with a dental pick really doesn't take that much work.

[Ralph]

Me too! I use the blade of a tiny flat head screw driver along the inside of the rails to get rid of unwanted ballast.
Ralph

[doctorwayne]

If you'd looked around a bit before hand, you would've seen THIS in the Scenery Details sub-forum. Included is a simple method to avoid this condition almost completely.

Wayne

[foulrift]

Thanks all for the replies.
Wayne-I remember that posting.I saved it to a file.I followed your method the best I could but I guess in some areas,not a lot I didn't get the ballast away from the insides of the rails.Your ballast method was very helpful and went rather quickly and I was happy with the results. Actually the excess ballast on the rails is not as bad as I probably made it out to be. So as I come across them I clean them up. Bob