Ballast

[hoppy504]

Cliff Barker fas the following information on his site :-

TRACK BALLASTING: -
Ballast can be loose laid if required but the birds tend to flick it everywhere and it can get under the sleepers causing uneven track. Full size track ballast was 1?? to dust; the exact scale therefore should be 1.2 mm to dust. My track ballast is 3mm to dust, so you will need to put this through a Sieve or Kitchen Calendar.

This has made me realise that G1 model ballast is smaller than I first thought.
John.

 

[28ten]

I had a letter full of grit this morning :scratch: :laugh: my wife thought it was cocaine :lol: :lol: :lol:
Thanks Simon the colour looks good and I will give it a little test later.

 

[Jordan]

I had a letter full of grit this morning :scratch: :laugh: my wife thought it was cocaine :lol: :lol: :lol:
Thanks Simon the colour looks good and I will give it a little test later.

..."test", or "taste"...?? :shock: :scratch: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Phill Dyson]

I had a letter full of grit this morning :scratch: :laugh: my wife thought it was cocaine :lol: :lol: :lol:
Thanks Simon the colour looks good and I will give it a little test later.

Got mine too Simon & I will test later too

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi

I'm coming in a bit late on this. Here is the tester for the Heyside approach to ballasting.....

[attachment=0:1bnsooo8]Bogie Components 009.jpg[/attachment:1bnsooo8]

It's cheapo cat litter (before use ) sieved. Tesco's. Every little helps :laugh: Stuck with Johnson's Klear.

Richard

 

[Phill Dyson]

Hi

I'm coming in a bit late on this. Here is the tester for the Heyside approach to ballasting.....

[attachment=0j7tq69c]Bogie Components 009.jpg[/attachmentj7tq69c]

It's cheapo cat litter (before use ) sieved. Tesco's. Every little helps :laugh: Stuck with Johnson's Klear.

Richard

That looks just right ,Can you wet some & see what happens ? ( so we know if it's any good outdoors)
Cheers Phill

 

[Jordan]

[quote=""Dikitriki"":32kmzea2]

It's cheapo cat litter (before use ) sieved.

Can you wet some & see what happens ? [/quote:32kmzea2]
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: great choice of phrase Phill...

Could be a problem on a Garden layout... just leave it outside awhile and a local moggy will wet it for you...

But I have to agree, it does look the part!!

 

[Phill Dyson]

[quote=""Phill Dyson"":33dv0332][quote=""Dikitriki"":33dv0332]

It's cheapo cat litter (before use ) sieved.

Can you wet some & see what happens ? [/quote:33dv0332]
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: great choice of phrase Phill...

Could be a problem on a Garden layout... just leave it outside awhile and a local moggy will wet it for you...

But I have to agree, it does look the part!![/quote:33dv0332]
There's always one :laugh: ,

Phill :lol:

 

[Phill Dyson]

Hi Richard :wave:

Is this the one & only Tesco home brand cat litter? or do we need to know a brand name ?

Cheers Phill

 

[westernfan]

this is a new gizmo that i came across on the bay seems to work well item number 290435794923

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi Richard :wave:

Is this the one & only Tesco home brand cat litter? or do we need to know a brand name ?

Cheers Phill

Hi Phill

Missed this one, sorry.

It's Tesco Value Lightweight Cat Litter. White packet, red band across, moggie with crossed legs (no, I made that bit up ) bottom half of front. We buy it in 10 litre packs, and get 2 grades out of it. The main line stuff which was in the sample shown, and that to dust for the yard.

I've put the sample outside, but that's coincided with glorious weather!

I doubt the Klear will be adequate for a garden railway though.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Jordan]

... moggie with crossed legs (no, I made that bit up )

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Phill Dyson]

Cheers Richard , if it's suitable I will probably fix it with waterproof PVA (unless anyone has any better ideas ? )

Phill :wave:

 

[iploffy]

Cheers Richard , if it's suitable I will probably fix it with waterproof PVA (unless anyone has any better ideas ? )

Phill :wave:

solves 2 problems then we wont have to worry about tiddles tiddling on the ballast as its waterproofed :laugh: :laugh:
Ian

 

[Steve Cook]

Cheers Richard , if it's suitable I will probably fix it with waterproof PVA (unless anyone has any better ideas ? )

Phill :wave:

Hi Phill

I'd definitely avoid using Evostick weatherproof pva for sticking down your ballast. I spilt some on my path when gluing all of the sidebeams of my garden plank ( :lol: ) together and it goes white everytime it rains. It does a good job of reminding me to scrape it off, but it would be a bugger watching your ballast change colour whilst we enjoy a typical British summer
No idea what to use instead though...
Steve

 

[Simon]

I think the waterproof PVA would work fine, the white business comes from when neat glue gets wet and even then I thought I'd only come across the phenomenon with the "normal" pva.

I'd use it in the form of a decent quality "unibond" type from a builders merchant. This is the method that Don Froud used on his line and he hasn't had any problems that I know of.

[attachment=0:25vfc2sq]Pannier.jpg[/attachment:25vfc2sq]

As regards my cornish sand, I did a load of sieving today, the actual "yields" are:

Large stone - 35%
Small ballast - 50%
The stuff I want - 15%

So if you liked that stuff I sent you Phill or Cynric....

 

[Phill Dyson]

Hi Phill

I'd definitely avoid using Evostick weatherproof pva for sticking down your ballast. I spilt some on my path when gluing all of the sidebeams of my garden plank ( :lol: ) together and it goes white everytime it rains. It does a good job of reminding me to scrape it off, but it would be a bugger watching your ballast change colour whilst we enjoy a typical British summer
No idea what to use instead though...
Steve

Cheers Steve

:scratch: Perhaps a coat of matt varnish after the glue has dried could prevent this ?

Phill :wave:

 

[Phill Dyson]

Cheers Simon ,
You have just reassured me a little about using PVA , do you know if Don leaves his track un-covered all year round ?.
I haven't had chance to try my ballast sample yet , but I will ASAP, do I take it that the ballast you are experimenting with is a non starter for you with the amount of unsuitable waste involved ?, is the Tesco cat litter that Richard is using a possibility ?

Phill :wave:

 

[Simon]

Cheers Simon ,
You have just reassured me a little about using PVA , do you know if Don leaves his track un-covered all year round ?.
I haven't had chance to try my ballast sample yet , but I will ASAP, do I take it that the ballast you are experimenting with is a non starter for you with the amount of unsuitable waste involved ?, is the Tesco cat litter that Richard is using a possibility ?

Phill :wave:

Hi Phill

Don doesn't cover his track, he might give it the occasional covering of something though, I think he might have mentioned something like Creosote but he has got timber sleepers.

I intend to use that SBR stuff, which is very similar to unibond. No worries about the sample, I am using the granite sand as with 5 times 25kg bags at my disposal 15% yield should be more than enough - I hope! The cat litter does look good and of course for an indoor layout it has a massive advantage of being relatively light.

On "Pomparles Siding" I used tea leaves as ballast. On the current project I am dropping all my used tea leaves down the sides of my embankments - got to be good for the soil!

 

[Steve Cook]

Cheers Steve

:scratch: Perhaps a coat of matt varnish after the glue has dried could prevent this ?

Phill :wave:

I suppose it might do Phill, but now I'm wondering if its because the Evostick glue is stated as being weatherproof, not waterproof (ie OK in a shower, but not prolonged water contact - I'd read the label, but that seems to have gone walkabout :scratch: ).

I think Simon's idea of using the SBR is a good one (Cliff Barker recommends it too), but I'd wait until he has used it first :lol:

Steve