I have been making my own ballast out of crushed granite/ rock dust. I get my supply at Home Depot.. It runs about $13 for a 50 pound bag. The bags are seasonal.  That all being said, does anyone else use this method? If so, I am looking for alternate sources and as always good prices... Thanks in advance.

I would like to build a diarama to showcase modern(2007-present)rolling stock. I need your help deciding what type of scenery, such as midwestern, rocky mountains, appalachian. I also don't know how to arrange the track, because I want to incorporate this into a future switching/shelf layout.I am doing this project because I don't have space to have a real layout.It would probably be 2'x4'.

I have a brace of Kato SD40s in Algoma Central colours that of course I always run together (which is not only prototypical, but necessary to haul a heavy train up my 2% grades). Both are equipped with Digitrax DN163K1C decoders, which is a drop-in replacement for the factory light board. Then one day, one of the locos stopped running. The lights worked, but not the motor. After a little experimentation, I determined that it worked fine running solo, but the minute I consisted it (using Advanced mode), it became no more than a pretty decoration.