Ballasting Track

Vacation time usually allows some modelling. This year less than usually, but I got some grass tufts, ground cover and ballasting done on the long module on my small layout.The ground cover is slowly spreading from the left side of the layout toward the right. Surely not the most exiting news, but progress nevertheless. During my vacation I was lucky to see some models being used in several museums. Quality and scope was very different, but they filled their role very well. A future post will show a few of them.

The ground cover is gradually spreading on the Nystrup Gravel layout.

As usual ballasting track is done with sieved gravel with coarser gravel sprinkled on top. In advance grass tufts have been placed in the track. Once sleepers have been swept clean with a flat brush and the ballast adjusted, I apply glue to the ballast. I use the traditional heavily thinned white glue with washing up liquid added to remove the surface tension. Once the ballast has been completely soaked with the glue mix there is time to clean away tools and materials while the glue dries.

Ballast has been applied, adjusted, sleepers swept and gravel particles removed from the tufts.

The areas with water/glue mix is spreading. I use a syringe to apply the glue mix. A slow, but very precise method.

A new section of track now waits for the ballast to dry, before the track can be finally swept clean for loose particles and tested.

While most Danish industrial narrow  gauge railways hardly used any ballast but dirt and earth, Nystrup Gravel has plenty of low quality gravel to use for keeping the line in decent shape. I try to vary the ballast from rather fine and clean in places to more dirty and coarse in other places with old leaves added here and there. 

One of the museums model I saw on my vacation use far coarser ballast than I do.