And so it begins...

[McFortner]

Well, I have finally started laying down ballast and some ground cover on Moe Hill. (Insert applause here) It started with a large gravel hill to serve as bumpers at the end of my siding and kinda grew from there. And I think I am actually getting it right! The ground cover is sticking to the hill, with just a few patches bare to show the brown/red earth below.

But I have one question for you Layout Gods: How do I put down the ballast around the switches so that it looks good but will still move when I throw them? :curse: :cry: Can you guess I'm having problems with that part?

Anyway, that is what I've been up to. So any advice would be appreciated.

Michael

p.s.: I'll post some pictures as soon as I can find the USB cable for my camera (or somebody sends me a new one, hint-hint. )

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Michael alot of people don't glue the ballast where it is around the moving parts of the switch. Others ( like myself) do glue it down with the usual 50/50 white glue and water mix then go in the railroad room every 30 minutes and switch the switch back and forth several times. After 4 or 5 hours the glue is dry and you don't have to do this any more!

 

[McFortner]

Ah, found the cable and the disk. Now I can post a few pix of the work so far on Moe Hill.

Here is the first, looking through the NSR cut through.

Michael

 

[McFortner]

And looking past the cut at the work at hand...

Michael

 

[McFortner]

And here it is before I put in the hill....

Michael

 

[60103]

Ballasting switches

Mike:
See if you can get some coarse sandpaper in about the right colour (or paint it) and put that beneath the points and for a couple of ties beyond the moving bits. Slowly build the ballast up from there to where it comes to top of tie height.
This may not work if everything is solid plastic at that point. (those ponts? ) Consider just painting the plastic in ballast colour -- maybe paint with grains of ballast in it?

 

[jon-monon]

Even the big boys dump less rock onthe moving parts. I do as Tyson says and break it loose after ballasting, but I use 100% white glue in that area so it doesn't flow.

 

[jon-monon]

I might add, you can add ballast to all areas around the moving parts, as long as you don't excede the height of the ties, except the area colored red. That area will be cleaned up by following Tysons fool proof method of ballasting a turnout.

If you want a portable to look good, you about have to glue the ballast everywhere. I would think using glue and vaccuming off the excess around the turnouts would increase reliability even on a stationary layout.