the order?

Generally I try to rough in any ground contours up to the edge of the tracks so I don't have to worry about getting plaster or sculptamold on the ballast. In theory I'll save the ballasting until the scenery is almost done then blend them both together when finishing up the ground cover and other scenery. In practice I've built many layouts that never got to the ballasting stage before tearing them down to do something else so this approach saved a lot of track for re-use :> ) ........DaveB

Ballasting

I like to paint the roadbed and ground around it the appropriate colors first. That way if there are any places that the ballast/ground cover miss it isn't obvious. Then I like to add static grass on the roadbed and between ties where appropriate. This way once I ballast it goes in around the grasses and the grasses look like they've grown up through the ballast as opposed to on it. If you are modeling very well maintained trackage you will still have grasses growing through the ballast on the edges of the ballasting. I like to model old track as well and it is definitely a must for that look.

Nick Campbell

As a general practice, Scott . . .

. . . waiting to ballast the shoulders until after basic scenery is completed works better in my experience. 

knowing the line you are

knowing the line you are modeling...I live in the QC area... you wouldn't even need to put anymore ballast down. The grass is growing right next to the tracks.

At One Time

I include the slopes when I lay ballast..  Usually I will sand the road bed to form the slopes or add and shape spackle to form a slope before hand.  Otherwise, the ballast to form the slopes has to be laid and allowed to dry in layered steps to avoid issues. 

After the roadbed is in place, including slopes, I will paint it using flat black.  This helps hide small areas where ballast gets missed.  

I always lay a thin layer of ballast secured by white glue on the roadbed on each side of the installed track as an initial base layer.  Especially along the slopes, this helps keep additional ballast in place when being laid and helps to hide any thin or missed spots.  

Once the ballast is in place, I will go back and do maintenance , (Removing ballast on rails for example).  Once I am satisfied, I will go back and weather/detail at that point.

Joe

Thanks for the responses

I appreciate those who responded. I decided to leave the shoulders until the surrounding scenery is completed.

Back to work…

My ballasting experiment

Good afternoon all,

Scott,

I started by "terraforming" the basic scenery level of the ground around the right of way. Next was a layer of black sand representing a layer of cinders. The "cinders" were sprinkled over Elmer's glue applied by brush and allowed to dry. I used more sand than needed to get good coverage. Once dry, the excess "cinders" were vacuumed away. The shoulders of the cork roadbed were painted with Elmer's and my choice of ballast was applied. Again, waited until the adhesive dried and vacuumed the excess. Used this same method for applying the dirt shown. If you note, there is NO ballast between the rails in this picture.

Still working on how I want to add grass, weeds, and such.

Respectfully,

Tim Moran Akron, OH

Is the ballast this white in Iowa/Ohio?

Just curious. The white ballast and the black cinders offer quite a contrast. Is this specific to the area you are modeling or is this common across a large area? 

White ballast in Ohio

Hi Rick,

There is a lot of crushed limestone used for ballast (and steel making) in the region. My plan was to tone down the overall whiteness of this ballast with a little weathering as the last step. I've seen all kinds of ballast on the various RR in the area and wanted to contrast this branch line with my main railroad.

Thanks for your question!

Tim

White ballast galore

Rick, on the branch I’m modeling of the Iowa Interstate the ballast is indeed quite white. 

Check out the photo below of IAIS 468 on the branch. You get a good idea of the ballast color from this photo.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Holmes.

Scott

Thanks for the prototype photo. Very interesting.

Ballast color after gluing

The color changed ever so slightly after gluing. See below. I’ll probably be adding some very slight weathering to the ballast / ties to break up the uniform look.

After I get the rail in place I plan to add even more variation with grass, weeds, spot areas with more ballast over the ties, debris, and some rust and dark creosote on random ties. Amazing how much work (I mean, fun) can go into the ballast area.

Scott, which area . . .

. . .of the layout is this? I'm thinking it's the Andalusia Runaround? 

You are correct, sir!

Paul, good eyes. Yes, Andalusia runaround.

I’m working hard to get the layout operational. Partly because Iowa Scaled Engineering built me a reversing unit and I want to try it out, but mostly because it’s time to stop making excuses for lack of work on the layout and get going. 

Florida

Church Street Station in Orlando FL.

Notice the very light color of ballast.

Florida East Coast RR ....New Smyrna Beach FL.

Florida Central RR......northwest of Orlando.

Ballast

Your doing the old Rock Island Southern proud.