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Ballast
Topic Started: 21 Jan 2012, 06:01 PM (1,173 Views)
TMNR
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Hello all,
Just to pick the groups brains - What ballast would be recommended for an authentic look as I'm relaying my track. Any thoughts, suggestions and rough prices would be most gratefully appreciated.
With regards
Mike
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johnbailiss
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On my railway i used 15 mm not to small other wise it tends to get trapped in points and check rails :) :)
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John Nicholson
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My experience of ballast depends on the type of line you are building narrow gauge or standard gauge and in the past st clubs we have used approx 15 mm to 6 mm. However the main point of my reply is the type of ballast that you get and I have seen both used. Some balast each stone can be very rounded and this is definitely not good and other ballst has sharp corners.

The rounded ballast although it looks ok but it is a continuously moving bed and does not support the sleepers properly. Whereas the sharp ballast packs in against each stone and form a solid roadway which helps to prevent the sleepers moving and this ballast will pack in far better.

I hasten to say I am no expert on ballast but this is my experience. I think you ought to view a sample before purchase.

John
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narrowgauge7.25
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Can I also suggest trying by making sure it holds the sleepers, we had some that looked great appeared to have sharp edges but allowed the sleepers to move through it so we were continuously re doing the track. In the end we ad to remove it and replace the ballast.
Martyn Redfearn
Brighouse and Halifax Model Engineers
Member 7 1/4" Gauge Society
Volunteer Driver Heatherslaw Light Railway
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alanjohnlew
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Test your chosen ballast by rubbing the flat sides of two stones together. With decent ballast they will lock against each other with very little pressure being applied.
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Colinlothlorian
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I agree with Romulus. As first laid our track was on 10mm limestone on 50 x 25 sleepers at 250mm centres, the stone was rounded and was like shingle to walk on, always on the move. The extension was laid with 75 x 25 sleepers on 20mm sharp limestone, you could walk up a pile straight from the lorry and it would hardly slide back at all. This gives much more support, and will gradually replace the smaller stone as we relay the older track.
Colin, High Legh

I wanted a big diesel, but not quite as big as the other one!
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bvr379
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It may sound obvious but the cost of ballast will depend upon:

Quantity
Distance from Quarry
Type of stone
Quality

The Bure Valley Railway gets 25mm one size Granite from Leicestershire, which is about 125 miles away from Aylsham, in 29t loads, which cost close to £1k per load.

The "Ratty" gets its ballast from "just up the road" at much less cost.

Best wishes,
Edited by bvr379, 26 Jan 2012, 08:33 PM.
David Barnes

Bure Valley Railway - The 15" gauge railway with powerful steam locomotives.
Trains between Wroxham & Aylsham in Norfolk.
Daily services between 24th March and 28th October 2018.
Please look up the BVR website, for more details.
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Colinlothlorian
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We are not too far from the limestone quarrying area around Buxton, with 60 tons already laid in 3 (hot) days a panic stricken phone call resulted in an extra 20 tons arriving just a few hours later, I think it was around £17 a ton direct from the quarry. (We only had the bobcat for 4 days and we were running out of stone). I would have preferred 3" or 4" of ballast on top of a well compacted base made from mixed sizes straight from the crusher, but planning permission would only agree to one size of stone being used, and with absoloutely no dust as it might harm the trees (mostly scrubby growth). So it was one size for formation and ballast, hence 20mm as it had to bind well. (Better than 2 years ago, when they insisted on green ballast to match the grass!). The bobcat, with a 1m wide bucket, fitted the trackbed nicely and brought me the stone (Andy Higgins was permanently seasick from all the bouncing around), and I raked and graded the formation to my marker pegs. As the work site got nearer to the ballast pile I had to work harder and harder to keep up! Half a stone lighter and and 2" off my waist, instant fitness regime. Colin

I wanted a big diesel, but not quite as big as the other one!
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nicknackpaddywack
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On the SDMR we use 20mm down almost single size, mainly because its the cheapest available.

edit:
ours is around £21 a ton delivered
Edited by nicknackpaddywack, 1 Feb 2012, 10:45 AM.
South Devon Miniature Railway - S+T Section Head.
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johnkerr
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hmmm I'm going to have to look into that... Cheap ballast around Arbroath will be interesting to find...

John
John Kerr
Kerr's Miniature Railway, Arbroath
Kerr's Miniature Railway's Website

If you want a job done, do it yourself!...
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