Ballast

[keith Bristol]

Can anyone reccommend a souce of ballast and a method of securing it against cats please.

[cabbage]

The standard one is a mixture of "fish tank gravel" and "postcrete" and then leave it overnight... The gravel, (if memory serves me!), is about £2 per kilo, postcrete is around £5 for a 5Kg bag. Mix in the ratio of around  3Kg of gravel to about 1Kg of postcrete.

Some people are "sensitive" to the compounds found in postcrete and other fast setting concrete mixtures. I use my wifes hand creme and a set of "Canadian Riggers" gloves and I have had no problems with using it.

regards

ralph

[keith Bristol]

Thank you cabbage.. Thats alot of fish tank gravel! Sounds ideal though. Suggestion on the gloves, use marigolds or nitile gloves that car mechanics use. The cement will burn your hands..
I will give it a try.

[IanT]

My modest contribution to this topic is to suggest the "Alpine" grit (e.g. grit dressing for Alpine flowers) sold by the RHS (I got mine at RHS Wisely) in 7kgm bags. It's a nice grey/granite colour and although I'm not sure if it's "scale" it looks OK. I would think something similar would be availalbe at most garden centres. As for sticking it in place - a wash of dilute PVA seems to work.

[keith Bristol]

Ian

I went down a similar route and horticultural grit is good. Pictures of it are on the members area.

Keith

[keith Bristol]

Excuse the wrong type of blossom in the picture.

Keith

[idriver]

If Anyone is in need of close to scale ballast then Modellers Mate ( http://www.modellersmate.co.uk/granite.htm ) do a selection of 3mm and 5mm chippings, not cheap though, but suitable for "special" areas or exhibition models.
IanD

[John Candy]

You actually managed to get 'Modellers Mate' to send you something?!!
I tried placing orders both by email and fax during October : Emails no reply : Fax no response from machine!
Tried once again in mid-December (for some metal sections) by email which 'Nick' acknowledged saying order would be processed as quickly as possible.
Sent two reminders in Jan and Feb but got no response.
Then ordered same items from another supplier and that order arrived next day!

John.

[Guinness 040]

I am using rough ballast for base folowed by No 1 stone and topped with 5 mm granite chipings. I have rolled the stone and chippings with a mini garden roller to consolidate and found that the chippings interlock to provide a very firm track bed and the cats dont like it. The max height of my P/way is approx 2ft 6 down to ground level and very weed resistant, some visitors to my home commented on the chippings and presumed that I had resined them in place and were surprised when I told them that I had just spread and rolled. Hope this info is of some help to you guys starting out .     

[keith Bristol]

Must admit that the small horticultral grit is looking pretty realstic currently. The cats seem to disappear too. My railway is waist height on a board so keeping it there is a problem on the wider bits. Keeps me busy. Any one fancy making a gauge 3 plasser theurer ballast tamper???

[Technocrat]

On this side of the pond a popular material is "chicken scratch". This is grit sold at farm supply stores to provide proper sized grit for chicken's to consume. It is reasonably priced & comes in 30lb (aprox 15kg) bags so is also easy to haul & store.

In order to facilitate proper food processing by the birds, it is a rough edged grit with a good "tooth" that packs well & once packed is not easily disturbed by cats.

If your felines are overly aggressive in their sanitary habits, some post-crete or Portland cement sprinkled over the top & watered in will usually solve the problem.

[492]

Hi

After a lot of searching I eventually found a source of suitable 6mm ballast available in reasonable bulk.

http://www.aggregatesdirect.co.uk/shop/decorative-aggregates/chippings/6mm-limestone

Have used this to lay a considerable amount of my steel welded track.
Robert. 492

[badlydrawnroy]

I'm now building my 4th railway and having tried several different approaches to ballasting I have settled on 2-5mm gravel laid loose and then soaked in a strong mixture of PVA adhesive.  Derbyshire Aggregates (01629 636500) sell a wide range of colours and sizes (I use 1-3mm in stations and yards) by the 20kg bag or the 1 tonne "dumpy"bag - and they will arrange delivery: They also supply sampler kits in plastic multi-compartment cases with a wide range of their products. 

I find Screwfix "no nonsense" waterproof  PVA affordable and resilient: My three cats failed to dislodge gravel stuck down with PVA diluted 1-4, but my 2 dogs proved more persistent,  bigger and stronger but have so far failed to dislodge that stuck down with a 1-2 mix and it still dries all-but-invisible.

[keith Bristol]

Thanks Roy. Mine needs redoing soon

[IanT]

Since the bag containing my "Alpine Grit" split when I moving it this afternoon, I was forced to shovel the grit back into a new bag (after washing it). I knew that I had originally purchased the grit from the RHS (in Wisley) and that it was intended for use with Alpines. However, on looking at the old bag I was a bit surprised to see that the product was actually described as "Cornish Grit" (it's 2.4mm = scale 2") and that it had been packed and supplied by a company called Roffey Limited (of Bournemouth).

I've just checked online and they are still around and will ship 25kg bags (for a fee!). You can find them (and the Cornish Grit) here:

http://www.roffeybrothers.co.uk/ornamental-horticulture/sands-grits-aggregates/2-4mm-cornish-grit.html

By the way, I washed the grit as my bag had been left outside and had gained various green things growing it. Half filling a bucket with 'contaminated' grit and then hand swirling it around in water seems to have got rid of most of the unwanted bits (they tend to float to the top).

Thought this might be useful for future reference.

IanT