Ballast and Track

To my mind, the single most important (and often under-remarked) aspect of a realistic model railroad is accurate track and ballast.

Track

To begin with, real life track is measured in pounds per yard (I believe). Main line, top-notch, heavy use track is 132 lbs. The lowly industrial spur is often laid with 80 and 90 lb. rail. 

Model track comes in codes. Code 100, the old standard, comes out to 156 lbs. per yard - well over size. Code 83 hits the real-life standard at 132 lbs. You can buy Code 70 (100 pounds) and Code 55 (80?) but it makes things tricky.

In real life, rail car wheels stay on the track because of the weight of the rail car. Wheel flanges (the edge of the wheel) are small because they just aren't that important. Model rail cars are light and can't depend on their weight to stay on the track. As a result, model flanges are larger than life.

This is where the problem with Code 70 and Code 55 comes into play - the flanges of most model cars are too big. So unless, you want to go to the extra effort of replacing wheels, your best bet (compromise) is Code 83.

But that means you need to camouflage the out-sized rail. Which requires paint and ballast.

Unpainted track

So once I laid track for the Spur and made sure it was where it needed to be, the next step was a visit from Mr. Camouflage Brown.

Already better

Spray painting track, while worth it, is a bother. You need to ensure the paint doesn't get on certain parts of your switches. You also need to keep it away from the pink foam because the paint will eat the foam.

Some modellers vary the paint to reflect the usage of the rail. Well-used rail is often a blackish-brown colour. Lowly siding rail is often rust coloured. I decided to keep things simple and paint everything a uniform brown. If I was an air-brushing pro, I might have varied colours but one goal of the layout was to keep things simple.

I almost forgot to mention the roadbed. In the real world, drainage is an important part of keeping track in place. So most track, outside of a yard, is elevated. In model railroading, this is where foam and cork roadbed comes in. Using roadbed also deadens the somewhat unprototypical sound of model railcars. In the real world, cars clunk. Model rail cars tend to click due to their lightweight.

Putting roadbed under your track can be time consuming. You want the track to be centered on the roadbed. You also want to avoid gaps in the middle of the roadbed (which comes in two pieces) otherwise you'll have gaps in your ballast.

To get a satisfying end result, I spent a lot of time cutting and fitting small bits to cover the gaps.

Tidy roadbed = tidy track

Finally, as part of creating good looking track, you need to add ties to the spots where you cut away to insert rail joiners (see the gaps in the picture above).

For extra nerd points, some modellers handpaint ties in different shades to replicate the varied weathering of real life ties.

The horror of Ballast

The second part of realistic track is modelling ballast. The concept of ballast (in real life) is simple - it ensures good drainage and ballast "locks in" the track so that it stays in place. 

Ballasting track is both maddening and satisfying. Real life ballast is endlessly variable. Railroads generally use ballast that is local to reduce transportation costs. Ballast, over time, gets mixed with weeds, dirt and crap. It gets dirty. It washes away and needs to be replaced. Sometimes the track rises above ballast and sometimes the track is set in the mud.

Here we have two pictures, taken by my Grandfather, at the same location (Forks of the Credit):

In the first picture, the ballast is grey. In the second (partly due to the light), the ballast is black.

In the pictures above, the track is set in the ballast so that you can't see the sides of the ties. I've seen other pictures of track where the ballast is below the ties.

Just to remind you how boring I am, I will say that I am always drawn to ballast in photos. To me, ballast and track is the story of the line. Razor sharp (neat) ballast means either labour was cheap or heavy traffic rode the line. I have a picture of a train riding the 4-track highway around Sunnyside in Toronto, on track where the ballast looks thin and muddy. It is surprising to see track in that state given the importance of the line. Decay is interesting, and given the capital intensive nature of the railway business, every day the railway has to decide between spending money on upkeep or letting matters slip a little further.

Not surprisingly then, there is a host of model railroad articles written about ballasting your track. The basic method is: 1. spread ballast out of a paper cup until it is perfect. 2. "Wet" the ballast to hold it in place. 3. Dribble a water/glue mixture on the ballast. 4. Watch in horror as the water/glue mixture moves the ballast around and makes a mess. 5. Swear and try to find a better method of laying ballast.

On the layout

Rants aside, I went with a two-part ballast structure for my track. Black "slag" ballast for the sub-roadbed and white/grey "rock" ballast for the top. I wanted the effect of track that was once well-maintained now slowly becoming neglected. To emphasize the effect, I weathered the ballast with grimy grey and earth brown powder.

The first ballast test.

I still haven't found a swear-proof method of laying ballast. From what I've read, the key is to use (I'm not kidding) actually crushed rock because it doesn't move around as much when you apply glue. To be tried at a later date.

Weathered vs. not weathered ballast

I've tried to present a few contrasts on the layout. The grey/white ballast is for the regular section of the line. The spur into Aston Growers has sooty ballast and dirty ties - showing its less than important status. The two track spur to Generic Canneries, has new, fresh ballast, showing it is a recent addition to the line (Generic Canneries having upgraded its facilities to receive sugar and corn syrup in bulk).

Grimy

Fresh

My favourite spot though is largely unseen. The most picturesque track is track barely keeping away nature - two rails, barely seen, overgrown and in danger of fading into the dirt.

In real life, I saw this at a park in German, where a small train ran through tracks laid in the grass. Incidentally, this ride is one of my favourite train trips, even though it only lasted about 15 minutes.

On the layout, the track behind Generic Canneries is my attempt at this:

A study in contrasts

The last picture is a good way to end this post - three tracks, side-by-side, each with its own story to tell.