Real Ballasting - Photos

[Hobby]

Whichever way is a guaranteed way of getting muck in your mechanisms and the pickups... TBH if you want that sort of look with genuinely "up and down" track then you will need stock with full compensation like the real thing. I'd still go with radio control as well just to sort out the pickup issue once and for all.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Bear in mind also that although with a great deal of care and attention it might be possible to make the track look as if it is in terrible condition and get locomotives to run on it, as soon as they start to move the spell will be broken.

One thing that I don't think anyone has managed to model successfully is mass, gravity, momentum etc. The model is likely to twitch and jerk like a demented fly and look nothing like the telephoto footage of NG trains swaying and waggling. (I particularly like the one, of a peat railway I think, where a catch on a wagon is held in place with a thin tree branch, Morrissey-style. Now to find it again.)

If there is convincing video of a model I'd love to see it. It might be possible to get somewhere near it using the old cinematography trick and run the trains at breakneck speed and then slow the film down, but that rarely worked either, at least not with ships where the trick was often used.

[B.Meldon]

Back in the late 80's/early 90's there was a 16mm scale NG layout on the exhibition circuits that had deliberately bad track.
There were kinks, dips, variable gauge, missing sections of rail, loose sections that went down into place as the railcar went over them, folding bridges etc. It was a joy to behold.  It was battery powered, the railcar was specially made with wide treads on the wheels and the trackwork very carefully done to ensure it actually worked. I can recall speaking to its creator who said it took a considerable amount of time and effort to get it all to work.
I last saw the layout in about 1989 and sadly I have never seen a video online.
So it can be done in the larger scales, but not in 009.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Found it - NG peat railway in Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V39JFjexSUk

[B.Meldon]

Found it - NG peat railway in Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V39JFjexSUk

That is good track! You should have seen the track at Leighton Buzzard just before the sand trains stopped in 1981, or the track at the Cherry Orchard Lane brickworks in Rochford.  No need for a zoom lense there!

Brian Meldon

[Stephen Rainsbury]

Found it - NG peat railway in Germany.

So my track ISN'T supposed to look like that? Just as well I found out before I started gluing then  ???

[Lee Ward]

Never mind NG. Some US SG stuff is atrocious:

https://youtu.be/9X2A2f6E5DI

[B.Meldon]

Any loose type scatter material used on the track, even when glued in place will end up in the loco mechanisms. Even some of the lighter types of ballast can cause this type of problem.
I use granite chippings fixed in place with 50/50 PVA/water mix. When dry and fully tested I then paint it a uniform 'rust' colour all over including the sleepers and the sides of the rails. 
I am happy with the visual appearance and it all stays in place.
As to the visual condition of the track using this system it is very much about the surrounding scenery, keep it neat and tidy with a wider ballast shoulder for 'mainline' type narrow gauge track, but more random with the ballast edge closer to the rails for industrial or less maintained track.

At the end of the day railway modelling it is all about compromise, and the personal choices that each modeller makes regarding the priorities of compromises on their model railways. I always prioritise good operational running above exact scenic detail, as far as I am concerned a model railway should run well above all else.  This approach works for me but others may do things differently. 

Brian Meldon

[Simon Hargraves]

I guess the crossing in the first photo is only for use by farm vehicles or similar...even then, most accommodation crossings I've seen have the road surface built up to the rail tops if only in mud, ash, hardcore or similar. I certainly wouldn't want to drive a car or (even more so) ride a motorcycle over it! From the railway's point of view, having vehicles crossing that would surely cause the rails to move over time due to the sideways force put on them by the wheels, potentially leading to a derailment.
Now r/c is available that will fit into tiny locos, perhaps some brave soul will have a go at modelling truly awful track...
Simon.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Other than for a static display I think it would be impossible to pull off. As soon as a train started to move any sense of realism would be lost as it twitched like a demented fly and any audience would just think it was the work of an incompetent modeller. I'd put on the same list of things not to try along with modelling moving water using real water.  ;D

I think the real skill would be in laying perfect track and making it seem as if it was badly neglected. I'm still far from managing the first bit.

[paul ludlow]

As I may have said before, check out coleford. Perfectly laid, diabolical looking trackwork, that usually works perfectly. ☺

[Stephen Rainsbury]

As I may have said before, check out coleford. Perfectly laid, diabolical looking trackwork, that usually works perfectly. ☺

Absolutely, it is definitely in my top five layouts of all time. The book is excellent too :)

[B.Meldon]

As I may have said before, check out coleford. Perfectly laid, diabolical looking trackwork, that usually works perfectly. ☺

That is not entirely correct.
John does have to compromise on the locos he runs, for example the newer section to the right was laid with code 60 Shiohara (I think) track and this prevents the use of some items that have larger wheel flanges as they hit the rail chairs.

I think he also uses graphite on the rails to assist items over the dead frogs, this is fine on a flat layout, but as it significantly reduces the haulage capabilities of any locos so it is useless if you have any layouts with grades.

But yes with the locos he uses it does work well.

Brian Meldon

[paul ludlow]

With John's compromises accepted, I still find it a fascinating spectacle & can watch the trains go by for ages at shows, and usually do. ☺