Yes, you can use various kinds of fine sand. But you need to run a magnet through it first. Many sands contain iron and are magnetic - if you use that stuff it can end up getting into your motors and causing no end of trouble.

All commercial products are non-magnetic, so no worries there.

I use black colored sanded grout. I model a yard and industrial trackage that had no ballast shoulder and was ballasted with cinders anyway, so this is the perfect product. Spread it, wet it, and you are done. Care is needed around turnouts so as to not glue them shut, but it's not anything that will destroy them (so far I think!). It is very fine, so it really won't work for "regular" ballast in HO or larger scales, but should be good for N.

Ralph

I though I read somewhere that grout was corrosive.  Maybe I missunderstood.  I have though about using grout for scenery but not around track because of this.  Anyone have any info on this as it sounds like a good solution if it doesn't hurt the rails.

Well, my rails are still there, and I grout ballasted them well over two months ago.

In my experience, grout hasn't been corrosive to metals - I've put in plenty of tile floors in bathrooms, and I doubt that we'd be installing a corrosive grout near a toilet mounting plate...

Do folks prefer sanded or non-sanded for this type (track laying) of application?

Sanded, I think the non-sanded is probably too powdery. It is fine stuff as it is, and any finer and you are dealing with dust.

Besides, the sand gives it some grit. Even cinders have some grit no matter how long they've been pounded on in a yard environment.

The question for the original poster is why use something other than model railroad ballast.  A number of manufacturers make a wide variety of sizes and colors.  I've found that Woodland Senics N scale ballast works good for a medium size HO ballast.  The only reasons might be: cost, but for a small layout this shouldn't be prohibitive and on a large layout the cost would most likely be spread out (pardon the pun) over time; modeling short line, narrow gauge or little used trackage, in which case you would probably want to use sifted dirt or dirt mixed with a little ballast. 

As far a the grout method is concerned, it's sounds very interesting because the adhesive is built in.  Has anyone tried mixing it with ballast and using it for mainline trackage?  If it works it would sure beat the wet water or alcohol followed by diluted white glue method.  

Ray  

A freind of mine has used masonry sand, or the kind used for laying brick walkways and the like with much success. I have also used sifted (fresh!!) kitty litter, the non absorbing kind and the colour and texture were perfect for what I was looking for.  For large yards I have used regular sifted  sand and then spray painted it to the colour I wanted, which was usually dark cinder and the same paint was used for the tracks and ties effectively. I think there is no one right way, look around and try anything non metallic. In the end though, I have stuck with commercial material, as it looks the best to me and a little goes a long way.     

Steve