Pet stores are your friend

Head over to one of the larger pet stores and take a stroll through the aquarium section. They have bags and bags  of various aggregates in many sizes and colours. While the neon green sand is probably not to useful for our purposes, the selection of "natural" shades is a veritable cornucopia of inexpensive ground cover.

I used two varieties of dark grey-brown material from the pet store, along with some lighter grey material I had on hand, to represent the cinders in front of my roundhouse.

When the pet store staff come over to help and ask you what kinda' critter you have just tell them you need to built a suitable habitat for a Bachmannitis oheightohian. They usually leave you alone after that.

Wash

I use thinned white glue to secure ballast and cinders.  I would add a little "dirt color" latex paint to the mix so when I put the glue down it gives the ballast a dirt cast.

My old favorite, sanded grout.............

..............in O scale:

Peter

Thanks, everyone! 

Thanks, everyone!  Coincidentally, Michaels, the pet supply store and big box store are close to each other.  Guess where I'm going this afternoon.

After you have spread the

After you have spread the granules in the way you want, go over them with a glue solution to fix them in place.  Then, paint the dried cinders with a wash of acrylic craft paints, say some grey, some burnt umber or tan....mix it up a bit.

@ Peter

That sanded grout look good.

Den

I use the sanded grout for "zip texturing.........

.............as well as ballast to which I add sifted sand to give it more texture.  IMHO most ballast is too big to be scale.  I try to get my "stone" to be no more than half the length of a scale human's shoe. 

Thanks, Den.

Spectra Lock tile grout

Hat tip for this from the Railroad Line Forums, but Laticrete SpectraLock tile grout comes in a range of colors including blacks and grays (Midnight Black I think is the color you want).  You can mix it with ballast or use it straight and it's about as fine a granule as I've ever seen.  Just use the traditional bonded ballast method to secure it (rubbing alcohol then followed on by diluted white glue or matte medium). It's a 3 part system but you need to buy only Part C, the granules.  It's available at Lowe's and very cheap.

Caution: wear a dust mask when using this; you definitely don't want to breath this in as it contains pure silica.  

See the link below:

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=328885-73069-1224-0402-3&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3306310&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

cinders

Smith & Son Ballast (13630 GAR Highway (Route 6), Chardon, OH, 44024) has just the product for which you are looking.  They do not use the Internet, but you can call them at 440.286.4890.  Spending a few dollars for an assortment of samples is money well spent.  Ted

Charcoal dust,

Charcoal dust, perhaps?

Steve S

Thanks everyone!

Well, this has brought forward a lot of choices, not a few of which center around grout.  I will try a few of these to see what works and report back, but give me a few days.

Scale Reproductions

My friend Dale Kuhn sells ballast and ground cover based on the Midwest. His CNW "pink lady" ballast comes from the actual quarry the CNW sourced near Reedsburg, WI. The cinders are actual steam engine cinders from the old Milwaukee Road right of way in Plymouth, WI. He also has various types of iron ore sourced from the UP of Michigan. 

http://scale-reproductions.webplus.net/index.html

floral sand

Always be on the lookout at weddings and banquets and ask to keep some of the sand that's used to decorate the center pieces.

A note on the Spectralock

A note on the Spectralock grout above...you are looking for the grout sand additive itself, which I believe is part 3 of the mix. Disregard the other two parts of the grout mix. The sand comes in a slimmed down milk carton, and only contains the colored sand. You fix it to the railroad using the same mix you would for ballast...I find it easier to dampen everything down with a fine spray mister of wet water, then mist with the glue mix (to do a wide area). Spectralock grout sand sells for around $3.98 a carton at Lowes.

Cinder Ballast

I use Arizona Rock's cinder ballast. Crushed from real cinders! Just glue down in place, has a variety of color in it naturally.