How much ballast do I need?

[nickelplate759]

So here's the thing - I'd hate to run out of ballast halfway through a layout and have to switch to something different, so I want to get enough.
How many ounces per linear foot of track should I allow?  If I can find it, I like the Arizona Rock and Mineral ballast, so let's assume stone ballast.

I already know I really really don't like Woodlands Scenics ballat, which is too bad as it's easy to find

[Rossford Yard]

Yes, AZ Rock and Min is better if you can find it, finer and real rock, doesn't float as much, but WS is workable.

Never calculated how much per LF you would need....It's not real expensive, and I have a few coffee containers full of it, which I figure is enough.

Lastly, if you really look at the prototype, there are small patches of different ballast, side tracks are ballasted differently, etc.  And, as long as you don't mix light with dark, there is variation everywhere.  Point is, if you only find two bags of your perfect color, but can find another one close, buy that to make sure you don't run out for your main line.  Funny thing is, you might be replicating why the proto has different ballast - the original source wasn't available, and of course, new ballast is lighter than old ballast.

[robert3985]

@Rossford Yard is correct.  I've got an old map of the U.P. mainline between Ogden and Green River, and it actually shows which quarry each section's ballast is from.  I don't remember how many sections and different quarries there are, but it's probably half a dozen or more, with each section being slightly, or even very different in color.  The size of the ballast stones and its physical qualities are what the railroad was interested in, not its color. 

As far as "color" is concerned, I went to the U.P. mainline several years ago and noticed that the ballast at Emory Siding in Echo Canyon was made up of four distinct colors of stones.  My LHS (now long out of business) carried Highball ballast, so I was able to match colors of their ballast to three of the stones, and some of my "sacred dirt" I'd dug at Echo match the fourths color perfectly.  I used photos of the ballast to figure out the ratios of the different colors to each other and mixed up a couple of quart jars of my custom ballast mix.

I also "graded" the ballast to get rid of the dust, and the oversized stones.  Getting rid of most of the dust means that the ballast, after it's glued down using the normal method to do so, looks a lot less like concrete, with the separate stones standing out like they do in prototype mainline ballast.

Now that I'm running out of my custom mix, I'm going to have to re-do my color matching using Arizona Rock & Minerals N-scale ballast since Highball ballast is becoming more and more difficult to find.

There are a couple of other "real rock" ballast manufacturers out there, but I can't recall their names off the top of my head.

I agree that WS ballast is the worst choice, although I've used it a couple of times on customer's modules because it was in their list of givens and druthers.

As far as amounts per linear foot goes, I don't know.  To minimize the amount used, I laid my track on contoured N-scale Midland Cork Products roadbed and sanded the sharp angle at the apex of the ballast contour on most of my modular layout.  However, on some sections, I used a single strip of HO cork roadbed to lay the mainline trackage on, transitioning to N-scale cork for the sidings and industrial areas.  The HO strip requires more ballast because it's narrower than two strips of N-scale cork.

If I were you, I'd mix up what I thought was going to be more than enough ballast for my layout, then, if it isn't enough, I wouldn't worry too much about exactly matching the color, since the real railroads don't.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nkalanaga]

Years ago I used WS ballast.  Never again!  That said, the "Iron Ore" makes great pine cones, so I still have a couple bags of N and HO for that.

To answer your question, I never measured it, but I THINK I got about 15 feet per bag, on ME flextrack, laid on 3/4 inch wide wood roadbed, with about a 1/8 inch shoulder.  The roadbed was actually 1/4 inch thick, but I built the subroadbed from mortar sand, alongside  the wood strip, leaving 1/8 inch for the ballast.  Of course, there were turnouts, and I used some for other stuff, so that's just a guess.

I ordered a LOT, so still have more than enough to rebuild and reballast the entire layout.  And, as the others have said, any color close to what you want would probably work, given the usual prototype variations.

[x600]

George, Have you forgot about the endless supply of "Younkinite" right in our own back yard?
Actually had my toes in some today at Coldwater Lake.

Greg O.

[nkalanaga]

OK:  What is "Younkinite"?  I Googled it, and found the source of the name (a Mr. Younkin), but nothing on what it is. 

Is it a specific material or mineral, or is it a generic term for sand, possibly from a specific location?

[x600]

ALL of the above, NK.
 Jim Younkins CEO of the Mud Bay and Southern RR, discovered it's use several years ago while looking for a source of ballast for his RR.
It's commonly known as Mt St Helens ash. He collected a bucket full along the Toutle River in SW Washington at Toutle river park, and used it for ballast on his then expanding MB&S RR and
his NTRAK modules for Mt Rainier N-Scale. We have since adopted it as our standard ballast for all new modules. Quite basically, it's sand.
From fine to course, mixed greys, Jim bakes it and sifts it in different sizes to use as ballast, gravel for roads and stones.
  I have used it for several modules and even modeled a
Younkinite Pit on my oNetrak Junction module.
I wanted to remind George (Nickleplate759) as he is a past member of MRNS.
A short ride up I-5 with a bucket would yield a lifetime supply.
Disclaimer: It is illegal to remove anything natural from a National Forest or National Volcanic Monument.

[nickelplate759]

Greg - thanks for the reminder!  However, since I'm not modeling our wonderful Northwest, I'm going to go with some rock from further east.

[nkalanaga]

x600:  Thank you!  I do have some ash, sent to me by my grandmother, who was living in Sprague at the time.  We missed the eruption by two years, having moved to Kentucky in 1978.