I have been looking at what ballast to use on the layout and have been looking at many types offered by a number of suppliers big and small companies.
As i have a quite large amount of trackwork to ballast cost always has to be taken in consideration.
What i have found looking around some sell by weight some by volume to me the volume way of advertising it is the more fairer way for the buyer that way it is easier to estimate what you may require.
The trouble with the weight way of buying it  depends on the material it comprises of how much volume you would get for example 1 kg of crushed coconut shell which some use would give you quite a lot in volume but if you bought 1kg of crushed granite chippings your volume would be far less. Im sure many a modeller has been caught out by this.
I have also looked at alternatives to commercial ballast products but not found anything that gives the correct texture size and colour.

Brian

Have a look in the index under 'B' Brian, some suggestions that may help.

http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=806&forum_id=46


Ed

Hi Brian,

Rock has the right appearance and doesn't float when gluing. If you are using Peco code 100 or 75 you will have a lot of space to fill. Keep costs down by using cheap nut shell ballast for 75% of the fill, let dry, finish off with a thin layer of real rock. 


Most ballast is oversized, drop down a scale. I used to put OO nut ballast through the herb chopper for 10-15 seconds. I can recommend the Moulinex chopper. 


Nigel

Think it depends on region/company location and era.

chinchiila sand is a generally useful ballast,I have found, the method is sinply pour it on , then use a soft brush to get the right level spray with water the use a mix of 3:3:1 pva water and washing up liquid droppered onto the ballast. leave it alone for 48 hrs then paint in desired colour. using ordinary acrylic paint. i's a pain , takes time but the results are good.  Decorative sand, can produce good results places like Trago The Range and so forth sell various co;ours and grades.

Thanks for the replies

Thanks Ed i had looked in the index a few days back and found nothing usefull .

Nigel rock is one of my options as my layout is multi era im trying to find something that will fit in with steam and diesel for some reason i have it in my head i want something that has at least 2 colours in it. Very good tip using the shell as an under layer.

Robberdoc   I have used chinchilla dust in the past on areas between ballasted areas and found it works well doing that also a good base for earthed areas.
Various  sands are graded with quite a wide parameter on granular size and often you will end up having to paint it that is something on a larger layout i would very much avoid doing.

This is the favourite for me after a lot of looking initially i thought it was expensive but is quite good when bought in a big bucket. i like the brown blend you can zoom in on the little picture of it laid on track
5 Litre Club Tub of OO/HO scale Ballast. Brown Blend

Brian

Looked at that Brian and zoomed in, looked really good.

Then I scrolled down and saw the price………………………… bl@@dy hell!

I  just bought Javis small (N gauge) ballast for my last OO gauge layout and it looked ok to me.

But it's your railway and Rule 1 always applies.


Ed

Actually ED it is cheaper than buying woodland scenics 32 oz tubs to that 5 litre volume.

And i know im going to need at least 2 tubs (probably a bit old to start selling my body LOL)
 
Brian

For me Brian, I have yet to find the ideal ballast.

That DCC Concepts one costs nearly half the price of a Gresley "Streak" !!!  I take your  point that, in the end, it probably works out cheaper than buying smaller quantities but………………….I can't stop thinking about that half "Streak" …………

I've tried granite but it's always discoloured by the PVA.  I tried the Woodland Scenics and, whilst it was good in the end, it balled up when using a dropper and, if spraying, it ended up stuck to the walls !!

I haven't tried the chinchilla dust and other "bird cage" offerings so am watching with interest.   :thumbs

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

I've tried granite but it's always discoloured by the PVA.  I tried the Woodland Scenics and, whilst it was good in the end, it balled up when using a dropper   if the watery PVA had a drop of detergent in it, it would not have balled up   & I have used real beach sand & gravel/stone from NSW quarries that was quite biggish & varied in colour with watery PVA & that did not discolour.and, if spraying, it ended up stuck to the walls !!

I haven't tried the chinchilla dust and other "bird cage" offerings so am watching with interest.   :thumbs

I’m using washed and sieved sand from the edge of the cycle path in front of my house. Helps that the local, worst soil on the planet for growing stuff, “Bassendean” sand is grey which I then paint a wash over from my brush cleaning water glass.
Marty

Marty, living on Bribie Island means I have grey sand as well. Useless for growing anything except weeds, but I've tried it on a short length of track to test, and it seems all right. We don't have to dig down far before we hit 'coffee rock' which is pretty hard.

Are you two suggesting I should either relocate to a small island or take up cycling for my ballast ?

On your bikes !!!!  :tongue :tongue :tongue :tongue

If you are modelling N Gauge sand is deffo worth considering as Marty has said he has used the stuff thats outside his house.
Trouble is if you are doing OO sand grain sizes are not really suited to that size i use standard grey granite sand which i use with work all the time and thats great for areas between ballasted areas and rough ground and earthed areas. Put it this way i can get a 25kg bag for £2 so that would do most peoples layouts.
If i look out the window of the layout room i have 3 miles of beach sand which could be used aswell thats free but still quite fine for more coarse stuff i would need to go down Loe bar as i know when fishing there its much coarser sand.

Brian

I'm with you on the ballast conundrum, Brian.  My least favourite part of layout building, but it has such in important part to play in the aesthetics!  Everyone seems to have their own favourite, I just haven't found mine yet. I have bought a tub of chinchilla sand, so will be giving that a test to see how it looks….

Michael

Here is my conundrum.  This is typical of the pictures I have collected from Wiki to show ballast.  The stones between the sleepers are about 1-1 1/2 inches across and I count 5 or 6 stones' worth of distance between the timbers



I've used this photo before elsewhere but repeat it to show that I use N gauge ballast on my OO gauge layout and that this gives me 4 -5 stones' worth between the timbers.  BUT  this is PECO code 75 with it's bonkers sleeper spacing.

Question is - does it look right?  After weathering and in the overall scheme of things, I am not emulating Pendon or trying to be Martyn Welch so I think it's fine.  The danger Brian is that you can spend so much time worrying about things like this that you get no ballasting done.  Trust me, I've been there!

I am a Pendon "Friend" and admire Martyn's modelling skills but I have to know my limits and then calculate how long I'm going to live vs the accuracy of the ballast!!!

btw I have tried sand and it looks too fine for main lines but good (once painted) as a representation of ash ballast in sidings and yards.



The you get this - inside the train shed at Waterloo (London) [part of a photo I do not own the copyright of hence the crop] - where the ballast becomes just stodge!!

Barry

Michael you are correct its often down to personal taste. Chinchilla dust works fine just watch the cracking with it deffo use washing up liquid or similar if you use it.



Barry you are correct regarding the size of ballast  for anyone modelling say pre 70`s the ballast was generally the size you have said and most commercially available OO ballast is to big but if you were doing a modern image post 70`s layout the ballast used since then is much bigger so for example the woodland scenics would probably be the right size. Thats why i have looked at this DCC concepts stuff as it seems to have been made especially for older era layouts of course i could be wrong as im only going off photos at this stage and could spend £100 on stuff that turns out the same size as the rest.

And of course as you mentioned does the true scale look right often in modelling you have to do it wrong for it to look right . For example when doing a few roadside kerbs the other day i found if i hade done it to correct scale you would not notice the kerb so i did it thicker than it should be.


Brian

Brian, AHJAY on the Focus Forum, is the phonetic version of RJ who is Richard Johnson- owner of DCCConcepts.

Thanks Ron
When he replied to my post on there i realised he definitely had something to do with the company so i now know it is actually Richard Johnson  himself.
I need to pop back in there to see if he answered my second query regarding volume where i asked they sell the 5 litre bucket of ballast does that actually mean there is 5 litres of ballast in it.

Brian

An old photo' but this is Chinchilla Dust seived to take out the big lumps. It still looked a bit over-scale, but a finer seive would have helped [I was too frightened to use SWMBOs…]. There was plenty of fine stuff in the bag I used to fill in little crevices etc.




Best wishes,

Doug

Well i have bitten the bullet this afternoon and ordered 2 x 5 litre buckets of DCC concepts legacy OO brown blend ballast this afternoon from kernow model rail centre when i was there picking up a few bits.

It has been confirmed on the dcc concepts forum the 5 litre buckets do hold 5 litres of ballast which actually does make it a good buy really.

Brian