Creating Cinder Ballast

Catcott Burtle station, Chris Nevard photo.

I have to share this post from the excellent United Kingdom (UK) modeler, Chris Nevard (he describes himself as: "Pro photographer, writer, beer, train fancier, urban pirate, wannabe musician, and nerd"), from his blog "The Model Railways of Chris Nevard."

This one has to do with "Creating the effect of cinder ballast," from 21 August 2011 (I do love the military use & the rest of the world's order displaying dates).

The PRR's Cambridge Secondary was not only built on cinders (READ: subgrade), but the ballast consisted of cinders (like all branch lines on the Delmarva Peninsula).

One thing I never considered in my plans for using cinder ballast was the fact that just simply spreading cinder ballast & then putting diluted white glue on it to attach it to the layout ends up producing a mess. I'll quote Mr. Nevard here regarding this, "Those who have tried this will know that all that happens is that we end up with a mess as the glue forms dusty balls that refuse to sink in however much or expensive the washing up liquid is used to help break the surface tension."

Another method would be to use plaster, but Mr. Nevard points out, "Plaster can be used for big wide flat areas, but as soon as it goes anywhere near rails, sleepers and chairs (READ: ties & the method the rail is attached to the ties), it will cling like molten ice cream does to a clean shirt better than barnacles do to a sunken wreck off the Needles." (For those wondering where the "Needles" are located, you can find it off of the west side of the Isle of Wight in the UK).

So what does Mr. Nevard suggest? Clay.

He mentions that you do have to take your time, but it is very forgiving, & mistakes & cracks in the dried clay can be corrected.

I'm going to investigate this method before doing anything with cinder ballast on the PRR's Cambridge Secondary.

You can read Mr. Nevard's blog post here:

Chris Nevard's "Creating the effect of cinder ballast."