Ballast Drama

[tramcar trev]

Trev,
A frend of mine nailed some Hardboard to his fence ( do you have that out there?) painted it blue and green to look like scenery. It looked ok for years before he moved. If you used external grade paint it may last well in your climate. His was in Harrow UK. It did bend a bit but hey ho. Was better than virgin fence pannels.
JonD

That's an idea that I will indeed explore. I could use the same Hardie Panel that I used for the base. Spray it all sky blue then spray in some green patches to suggest foliage with a spurt or two of white to suggest clouds.... A good idea thasnks

 

[stockers]

I want to ballast some of these.

 

[Madman]

I want to ballast some of these.

That's interesting. What is it?

 

[trammayo]

I want to ballast some of these.

That's interesting. What is it?

Pointless I'd say - someone trying to re-invent the wheel? Spreading the weight perhaps?

 

[stockers]

They are triangular steel sleepers used on the German Harz railway. Not sure of thier intended advantage but they do have quite a few of them. I seem to remember its something to do with holding curves in place, but then again my memory can be rubbish at times.
They are available in model form from a German supplier but quite expensive for what they are - but I might 'need' just a few though. :love:

 

[garrymartin]

Hi Guys,


Anyway, I notice in this thread a lot of discussion of "gluing" the ballast down and a number of pictures of rounded material similar to aquarium gravel, chicken grit, or miniature river rock. By its nature, smooth rounded material never really comes to grips with anything. It will fall into place and lie nicely next to itself, ties, and rails, but it will just as easily fall or wash out of place the next time it rains heavily or an animal strolls your tracks. Hence the need to constantly replace it and glue it down.


Ted Tuck, AWRYPres

Grit type sharpe ballasts also can be washed away and often are even in 1 to 1 scale .

 

[Gizzy]

They are triangular steel sleepers used on the German Harz railway. Not sure of thier intended advantage but they do have quite a few of them. I seem to remember its something to do with holding curves in place, but then again my memory can be rubbish at times.

They are also used on more sharply curved sections of the RhB and other Swiss metre gauge railways.

Here's a YooToob linky on the RhB, where the Albula line curves away from the Engadin line at Bever. After the train passes through the station, it crosses a scissors junction before curving to the left and heading north to the Albula summit. You can see the triangular sleepered track quite clearly....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1hCyBpkAVY

 

[beavercreek]

M I've been looking at having some backdrops printed ( from photos) but they are not cheap......

Hi Trev
I had a couple of photo backgrounds made up onto vinyl. One was 9' x 4' and the other 2' x 6'. The problems with them are that first the photo has to be very high resolution otherwise the resulting enlargement looks very low res and spoils the whole effect.
The other problem is the positioning of the backdrop. Even though the inks are theoretically pretty fade proof, if they are in direct sunlight for part of the day or even open to daylight they will start to fade after a couple of years starting with the red pigments. This is not good considering that they do cost a bit.
The big one that I had made up is under an awning and does not get a lot of direct light and the other is under an arbour seat where the track passes under the arbour so again not much harsh light.
But if the position is right they can add a real 'spectacular' extra dimension to the railroad in front.

 

[DoctorM]

Here is my result, I've taken advantage of the cooler weather to scatter some ballast...​

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[style="color: #808080;"]Now that really does look Street!​

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[style="color: #333333;"]I can only stand back and look in awe.​

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