Ballasting...A ghastly process made easy.....

[Steamtrains]

Some of you may be aware that ballasting has never been one of my favorite activities....
All the fiddling with getting the loose ballast to stay in one place, and spreading it out so it looks half-way decent has never appealed to me...particularly the coaxing of little rocks with the proverbial soft brush....But a man has to do what he's gotta do, so I bit the bullet and went ahead....Since I have close to 30 feet of track to do this time around, by the time I had only done a few feet my patience started to wear thin, and I chucked the darn brush and resorted to this.....



No....You're not seeing things...I'm using my fingers to spread the ballast...!! And it's a snap...What's more....It looks better since you actually press the ballast into place...!!! Note that I use the "flat" side of the finger, not the tips. The ballast will stick to your fingertips since they're much softer than the rest of the finger.

The only stragglers are the "rocks" that get caught on the spike heads, and those I remove using a bamboo skewer..



Note also that I pre-ballast the shoulders using glue and letting them dry before applying ballast to the track. This helps to keep the track portion of the ballast in place, and you use way less ballast than if you try to "build" the shoulders using only ballast.

I also use a "square" spoon that I salvaged from some coffee can, and it's the perfect size for placing the ballast initially between the tracks. It's rather trickier to spread the ballast evenly using a "round" spoon. Once everything is in its place, I finish the job using the tried & true method for gluing the ballast in place.



I figure that going "brushless" cut the time and effort to about a third, or more, of what I used to spend doing it the "old" way....Now I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the ballasting done.....

Hope this helps some of you who also suffer from "ballastophobia"....

[nachoman]

HAHA. That is about the exact same technique that I developed after trial and error. I never thought to share because I figured everyone did it that way - with their fingers!! You are right, it is a good method. The fingers spread the ballast easier than a brush. I still use a brush to gently sweep things into the right area, then use my fingers to finish things off.

[RobertInOntario]

Thanks... these look like all good suggestions.

I'm much better at ballasting than I was a few years ago & there's always room for lots of improvement. I like the idea of using the flat side of your finger to push the ballast in and also doing the outside edges first and doing the section between the rails last.

This fall, I hope to ballast my small 3x5 layout. My biggest worries, though, are that my locos will run much more roughly than they are now and that the layout might run into some loss-of-electrical-current problems. To get around the latter, I’m thinking of soldering the rail-joins beforehand — yet I’m not a big fan or soldering and find that to be another tedious, finicky process!

Basically, I find that I can get the pre-ballasted track to function very well — lots of current and few derailments. But even after you’ve come up with a good way of doing ballasting, ballasting often introduces a host of new problems for running your trains.

Rob

[Trucklover]

Gus, i myself have resorted to using the finger for ballasting and gosh darnit just like you said, it pushes the ballast down and looks pretty good after! Who woulda thought that your finger could be such a great ballasting tool, and the best part is, ITS FREE! well for most people at least :oops:

[doctorwayne]

There are a few ballasting tips HERE, including an easy way to eliminate the bits of ballast from the tie-tops.

Who woulda thought that your finger could be such a great ballasting tool, and the best part is, ITS FREE! well for most people at least :oops:

Yes, Josh, it's definitely free - many people have given me the finger!


Wayne

[Sumpter250]

Yes, Josh, it's definitely free - many people have given me the finger!

Thank you Wayne. My mind went straight there, but I don't have to post that part of my thoughts now.

Square spoon? Where did I leave that square spoon! It's.....It's.....driving me SANE! Well!, if all else fails I can build one. I never thought about building up the shoulders first, I can see how that would help immensely, in keeping the ballast looking neater.

[tetters]

Hey if it makes you guys feel any better, I was called an F*&^%$#g #$$ today by a emotionally disturbed person. Now I can go on with my day.

Please continue with the ballasting tutorials.

[mooreway]

Great tip... For some reason no matter how I start ballasting I always end up back to this method... It works great...

[MasonJar]

If you want to use a brush to spread out the ballast, I have found that a foam craft brush tends to be better than a bristle brush. The ballast doesn't seem to get "flicked" all over the place (well, not as much).

Andrew

[eightyeightfan1]

Thats a neat tip. I'll have to remember that.

[doctorwayne]

Just like painting with a brush, the type of bristles and the angle at which the brush is held do make a difference. I prefer a very soft-bristled 3/4" brush, and use it with the handle almost parallel to the track. A light touch helps, too. For the ballast shoulders, I let it find its own angle of repose, and adjust it only to keep it reasonably constant on both sides of the track. The tapping-the-handle trick takes care of any stray ballast on the ties or rail.
For the space between the ties surrounding the throwbar, I pre-paint it black before ballasting and keep the ballast out of this area completely. Real railroads often grease this area and the tie-tops over which the points move, using a bucket of grease/oil and a string mop. I find that applying some plastic-compatible oil to the tops of the ties over which the points move (after the ballast is in place, but before any wetting agent or glue mixture is applied) helps to ensure that the point rails don't become glued in place. I park them mid-way in their throw, so that they touch neither stock rail.

Proper tools and preparation can make ballasting a relatively quick and easy task, paying big dividends in track appearance for a very minimal expenditure in cash.

Wayne