What Type Of Ballast To Use With Unitrack... That Is The Question?

What Type Of Ballast To Use With Unitrack... That Is The Question?

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I have found over the years that a very fine natural rock ballast is best to use when ballasting Unitrack. On the JJJ&E, I used Color Canyon Materials very fine natural rock ballast. Arizona Rock & Mineral also makes very fine natural rock ballasts in many colors. I am using Arizona Rock & Mineral natural rock ballast exclusively on the "new" JJJ&E. They having many colors and grades available to N scalers as well as HO scale modelers

A very fine natural rock ballast is necessary because of the small space between the gray road bed and the ties. When you glue the ballast to the Unitrack, you'll find the natural rock ballast won't float away due to its heavier weight.

Woodland Scenics ballast is hard to work with when ballasting Unitrack due to it's light weight. The WS ballast tends to float away when you attempt to glue the ballast using a 50:50 Mix of water and water glue. This happens even after "wetting" the area to be ballasted with some iso-propyl alcohol beforehand.

When you attempt to ballast Unitrack, work in a small area. I usually work in 2-3 foot sections at a time for best results.

On the "new" JJJ&E, I used 57 bags of Arizona Rock & Mineral ATSF Windsor  "New" Hue ballast for the mainline track and 50 bags of Black Cinder yard ballast for the yards and sidings. 

Ballasting between the ties of the Unitrack isn’t difficult at all. It does take time and the end result is worth all the work involved.

I sprinkle small amounts of ballast on each section of the Unitrack. I usually work in three-foot sections. You must remember that the distance between the top of the ties and the roadbed is minute so very small amounts of ballast are necessary to fill in this space.. Arizona Rock & Mineral Ballast is small in size and this ballast works well for N scale layouts..

I then spread the ballast with a small ¼ inch flat brush. The ballast is spread so that it doesn’t cover the ties. The Arizona Rock & Mineral very fine N scale natural rock ballast makes this all happen due to the small size of each piece of natural rock ballast. When each three-foot section of track is ballasted, go over and fill in any areas that aren’t completely covered by the ballast. I use a mixture of 50% white craft glue and 50% water to the glue the ballast to the Unitrack roadbed using a small medicine dropper. You must be very careful not to flood the ballast with the glue/water mix. You must remember that the glue/water mixture will not seep through the solid plastic roadbed. If you happen to add to much glue/water mix to the ballast, the ballast might move slightly due to the fact that the glue can’t drain through the roadbed. Let the ballast dry for at least 24 hours. If some of the ballast is loose or misplaced after 24 hours you can apply more ballast and a second mixture of glue and water using the medicine dropper.  When the ballast is completely dry take a small instrument or a jewelers screwdriver and scrape off any ballast that has dried on the inner rails. If this step isn’t done, derailments will occur. So run some trains over each completed area that you ballast to make sure there are no pieces of ballast adhering to the inner side of the rails .

The link to Arizona Rock & Minerals website is below. Phil is a great person to do business with.

http://www.rrscenery.com/Home/Links/AZROCK5.html

Below are photo's of ballasted Unitrack on the "new" JJJ&E using Arizona natural rock ballast.

Photo # 1A closeup view of the completely ballasted Switching Yard. I started the ballasting of the double track mainline in late December 2010 and finished the entire double track mainline and all passing sidings the first week in March. Also completed was the ballasting of the Switching Yard which is 18 feet long and 30 inches wide.    

 Photo # 2  A closeup view of the ballasting of the double track mainline and two passing sidings near the backdrop and backdrop buildings and a view of the Switching Yard.    

Photo # 3 A closeup view of Bowdens Mills Lumber Yard. The sweeping curves on this part of the "new" JJJ&E utilize 30 inch radii. Two oil derricks are in operation above the retaining wall in this corner of the layout. A long Billboard reefer consist is on the outer mainline heading towards the Switching Yard.    

 Photo # 4 A panoramic view of the finished front part of the turnaround area. The building adjacent to Roscoe's Engine is a Plumbing Parts & Service area.The three mainline track tracks in the foreground sweep around the turnaround area.    

Photo # 5  Denver & Rio Grande F-7's and Milwaukee Hiawatha Locomotive and two car passenger train enter the newly finished turnaround area east of San Marino.    

 Photo # 6 A panoramic view of four ATSF F-7's pulling a long consist on the mainline in San Marino