LAYING FLEXIBLE TRACK AND BALLASTING

Most of the products mentioned below are available from Hobbytech; the rest can be sourced from a hardware store.

You will initially need:

A track plan that makes the most of your available space.

A metre-long straight edge to ensure straight track is immaculate.

                                                    

A radius rod or prepared templates for drawing curves. These are easily self-made.

{Main line curves must not be tighter than 24” (610mm) radius if you can
possibly help it; you can come down to a minimum of 18” (460mm) on branchlines.
The widest curves possible anywhere are always preferable}.

For HO gauge, 30mm wide strips of cork on which to lay the track to enhance the track profile for ballasting.  Recommendation: 5mm cork for the American profile; 3mm cork for anything else. For N gauge, use 1.5mm cork cut into 17mm strips.

Track pins and rail joiners.

A set of needle files. These are inexpensive and are used for filing the ends of cut track so that the joiners are easily applied.

A small hammer with a head less than 16.5mm across that will fit between the railheads; you do not want to damage your railheads whilst hammering.

                                                        

A mini-drill or pin vise for pre-drilling holes every 7th sleeper (tie). The best drill bit to use is 0.6mm.

A soldering iron  ( minimum 100 watts) , solder and solder flux.

Xuron cutters for cutting track to match rails up on curves. You can also use a motor tool with a cutting disc.

A sharp hobby knife for removing excess sleepers when joining track. These sleepers must not be discarded; you will need them again after the track has been joined, but only after you have removed the “chairs” on them with your sharp knife so that they slide unimpeded under the track.

A thin grade of wire for tucking under the cork and outside rail if you prefer to super-elevate your curves, so that trains bank realistically whilst negotiating the curves. We suggest 1mm outside diameter wire.

If your trackwork is immaculate, you will not have problems with derailments. When lightly hammering in the pins, take care that the head of the pin just rests on the sleeper (tie); if you drive it in too far, the sleeper will buckle, drawing the rails closer together and making the track go out-of-gauge.

When hammering pins in on curves that you intend to super-elevate, leave space under the head of each pin for the cork and track to rise when you apply the thin wire under them. After the wire has been inserted (under the outside rail) hammer the pins in as before. Here you can just discern the yellow plastic-coated wire that has been inserted under the cork:

                                                    

When joining track on a curve, it is imperative that the joins are soldered while the track is still straight  to avoid kinking  -  especially on sharp curves.

Parallel tracks (HO) need to be exactly 51mm (2” ) apart so that switch-over turnouts will fit exactly, if you are using Peco turnouts which we most highly recommend. We also recommend that Insulfrog turnouts are employed, giving you isolation on the track not needed for a locomotive’s progress. Long radius turnouts are only suitable where the modeller has lots of space. Medium radius turnouts are optimally useful for the average modeller. Only use small radius turnouts off the main line (in yards, etc) where smaller shunting (switching) locos will be employed.

                                                       

Frequently insert power-feeds along your track to avoid a voltage-drop. The wire for this purpose should not be too thin, and should be led up through holes drilled either side of the track (right up against the railhead between two sleepers.) Keep your soldering onto the side of the track neat and inconspicuous.
Never lead your wire up between the rails; soldering on the inside of a railhead is inevitably going to cause derailments. Your flange-ways must be kept clear.

When planning multiple track around curves, always  draw the inside (narrowest radius) curve first to ensure that it is wide enough.


BALLASTING

You will need:

A supply of Agran  -  finely chipped marble. It is cheap and very easy to apply.

White wood glue: Genkem, Bostik or Alcolin are equally suitable.

A half-inch brush with fairly stiff bristles.

A garden mist-spray bottle containing water to which you add a drop or two of Sunlight liquid (or similar; the soap aids the capillary action of the water by breaking the surface tension; you want your glue to soak in well and everywhere).

An old Genkem (etc) bottle with which to apply the ballast. Carve a neat 5mm “V”-groove in the back of the spout.

                                                       

A cheap tomato sauce bottle for the application of the glue:  50% water + 50% glue, with, again, a drop or two of Sunlight Liquid. You can use an eye-dropper, but that takes forever!

                                                           

A compressor for your airbrush (a car tyre also works well, if you have the necessary adaptor for your airbrush).

An airbrush. It need not be a fancy model for this application.

A little oil (3-in1 will do, or light hobby oil) for applying to the moving parts of turnouts before wetting and glueing so that they do not become gummed up as the glue mixture dries.

Sky Grey acrylic paint (Tamiya); Tamiya Flat Earth paint; a little Tamiya Flat Black with which you will make a “black-wash” for “dirtying” the ballast, particularly between the rails where, protypically, oil falls from locos over time. It is essential only  to use FLAT (XF) colours.

A bowl of water with a couple of drops of soap with which to clean your airbrush between colour applications. Acrylic paint dries very fast and if you do not keep the airbrush clean constantly, it can gum up and may have to be dismantled; a tedious and time-wasting exercise.

An airbrush bottle with acrylic thinners for cleaning the airbrush thoroughly on completion of the spraying.

METHOD:

Up-end the Genkem bottle with the ballast (agran) in it, position the V-groove over one of the railheads in such a way that most of the ballast falls outside  the rail and draw it steadily along the railhead with the ballast flowing out in a steady and constant stream. Do about ½m at a time. Come back and do the same with the other railhead.

                                                        

                                                        

Gently the brush the agran flat so that it falls nicely to the side. Don’t panic if some of it is still lying on the sleepers.

                                                          
SPARINGLY  apply the agran bottle to the centre of the track and draw it along; you don’t want too much to come out. Then brush it flat so that the agran falls between the sleepers. Again, if there is a little ballast on the sleepers, do not get stressed at this stage.

                                                           

Now comes the trick: tap each railhead gently along its length with the back of the brush  -  and watch how the ballast settles away from the sleepers. If you have applied a little too much, brush the excess farther down the track, and tap again.


When ballasting over turnouts, be very careful that the little stones in no way interfere with the moving parts (the points themselves). Keep switching the point back and forth to ensure free movement. Also ensure that your flangeways, particularly all guardrails on turnouts,  are free of ballast before glueing.

The ballast now in position, drop oil onto the moving parts of the point, making sure that oil also gets onto the little tongue under the point which transfers the power from one line to another.

Start now to spray your “wet” water (water with soap in it) over the agran. Spray fairly liberally so that the water sinks right in. Take care that your spray is a fine mist that doesn’t “chase” up the ballast and spoil your profile.

Now take your tomato sauce bottle containing the glue/water mix and move it along first one side of the track, then the other and finally the middle. Gently squeeze the bottle to aid the running of the glue; too much pressure will disturb the ballast.

It is essential that you now mop up the excess water and glue lying either side of the track.  Your baseboard is made of wood  -  and water is no friend of wood. Get rid of as much as you can without spoiling your ballast profile.

Now leave the ballast for a good 24 – 36 hours to dry. Don’t fiddle with it.  Just let it dry.  After that time it’ll be rock hard  -  but just to ensure that no ballast remained unglued, run a vacuum-cleaner over the track. If some of the agran comes away, augment it carefully and repeat: wet water, then glue  -  and leave it.          

PAINTING:

Mix your grey paint with acrylic thinners (65% to 35%). Shake up the diluted paint well and begin to spray. You must ensure that you spray very liberally so that not the tiniest visible fleck of white remains. If for any reason you are interrupted, and at the end of the spraying session, detach the paint bottle from the airbrush, hold the brush in the bowl of soapy water -  and pull the trigger. Let the soapy water rinse all paint from inside the airbrush.

                                                      

Now mix your flat earth paint with water, also 65%:35%  -  but you can prepare a lot less paint as you are now only going to “mist” the brown over the grey. It is advisable not to overdo it, as you will merely cancel out the grey. The idea is to weather the original grey “gravel” the way nature would. Rinse/wash the brush again.

                                                      

The last paint job is the blackwash. This you prepare by putting a small amount (5 – 10% according to “taste”) of black paint and adding half as much Flat Earth to mute the absolute blackness of the other paint. Then fill the paint bottle with water;  shake it all up.

Spray liberally down the centre of the track and do not stress about some of the wash going beyond the railheads  -  it will look perfectly natural.

                                                      

Remember to clean your airbrush well. Remove the head assembly and dismantle it if it consists of more than one part. Then drop into your little bottle of thinners to let it soak so that any dried paint can “melt’ off.

All that remains is to clean the track. This you will do with a proper track-cleaning block. Under no circumstances use waterpaper, sandpaper and the like. These products will scratch the railheads, leaving tiny grooves for dirt to accumulate. It is not necessary to rub with pressure. Be patient and you will see how the paint and the glue are gradually cleaned away with your railheads gleaming above the filth that characterises a busy main line!

If, when you run a loco through a turnout, it stops, then the little tongue that transfers power to that route of travel is still dirty and this you can clean either with the point of a sharp hobby knife, or a needle file. Be careful not to damage the little tongue in any way.

                                                       

Now you’re ready to run!
 

Frank Graham.