balast options


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mowman24

Member
Just spit balling, and wondering if it would work to use the premixed concrete mix with the biggest stuff screened out as ballast. Maybe thstuff that you don.t even have to mix just spread and wet down???
O a mortar mix and shape it and spread some cat letter on top . Or would the train vibrations break it all up?
 
You're gonna go down a well beaten path if disappointment.
While stand alone solutions may seem good, ya need to factor in other things, i.e. how messy is it to apply, will there be metallic bits that get captured by your loco motor or speakers, how heavy is it, can it be removed from the track easily.
While your idea may seem novel, the 100 of thousands of trials have proven the few choices available on the market work best.
 
I used pool filter sand it's the correct size for HO scale and it's cheap I just died it to the color I wanted now have way too much
 
D&J RailRoad said:
You're gonna go down a well beaten path if disappointment.
While stand alone solutions may seem good, ya need to factor in other things, i.e. how messy is it to apply, will there be metallic bits that get captured by your loco motor or speakers, how heavy is it, can it be removed from the track easily.
While your idea may seem novel, the 100 of thousands of trials have proven the few choices available on the market work best.
Click to expand...
You are probably right, think I will stick to chick grit or walnut shells. I am a miserly skinflint, so always looking for a way to save nickel or two. Or maybe I will buy some grey or black or brown short nap carpet, and go over the whole table or cut some 2.5 inch strips and just lay under the tracks, with some on top, and between the ties
 
mowman24 said:
Sounds like a good idea for HO, but I have O
Click to expand...
Yep probably to small but who knows here's pict with ho scale track
DSC_0159.JPG
 
How did you get that color?
Size looks like it could work, especially since I am not a purist
Just checked it out and Menards has it for under $10 for 50 lbs, so price is certainly good.
BUT, is silica sand safe to use for the engines?? I thought I read that was BAD for the gears ec?
 
Buy a big bag of decomposed granite, sieve it, and you're good to go. $10 will get you 25-35 pounds. It will be light in color though.
 
That's what I used TechMix brand I just used Rit dye I think they had a chart for what colors to use to get what you want
I kinda experimented a bit came up with lite to dark greys and some had a green tint and some a rusty look
It didn't take much of the dye just mixed it with water and heated it on the stove in old fry pan I repeat OLD one not one of the wife's new ones
Just heated it till the sand was dry and done

I only had maybe 6 or seven colors of dye and there is a color mixing chart on Rit under color formulas
 
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Playground sand is not very costly, and you can always use the other 90% of what comes in the store-bought 40 pound bag for leveling pavers or something else. It's what I use, screened to get the right size of ballast grains for my scale. Or, I have used local beach sand.
 
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