Model Railroading > Who says it must be perfect? Ballast

I have worked with modelers who think the ballast must be perfectly smooth all along the sides.
Occasionally when putting the white glue 50/50 mix, there is a slight sag that appears.  This screen grab from the UnionDepit web cam (St Paul) shows the exact sag that can appear.

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If you look at prototype row photos from the 1940s into the 1950s you can see some roads scribed a line in the dirt a fixed distance parallel to the rail. The ballast was uniformly raked inside the line.

fbe Wrote:
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> If you look at prototype row photos from the 1940s
> into the 1950s you can see some roads scribed a
> line in the dirt a fixed distance parallel to the
> rail. The ballast was uniformly raked inside the
> line.

I understand section gangs had contests to see who had the strightest ballast lines.

And sometimes the biggest rocks were picked out by hand and lined along the edge of ballast, so while modern day right of ways may have slumps (possibly connected to undercutters and shoulder ballast cleaners), steam era modelers would do well be be attentive to ballasting. In the yard it's less of a necessity, but the mainline, with the manpower-heavy section gangs, would have been very well groomed.

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Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

santafedan Wrote:
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> I have worked with modelers who think the ballast
> must be perfectly smooth all along the sides.
> Occasionally when putting the white glue 50/50
> mix, there is a slight sag that appears.  This
> screen grab from the UnionDepit web cam (St Paul)
> shows the exact sag that can appear.

the ballast in that picture ALMOST looks like sand.............

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> santafedan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have worked with modelers who think the
> ballast
> > must be perfectly smooth all along the sides.
> > Occasionally when putting the white glue 50/50
> > mix, there is a slight sag that appears.  This
> > screen grab from the UnionDepit web cam (St
> Paul)
> > shows the exact sag that can appear.
>
> the ballast in that picture ALMOST looks like
> sand.............
>
> 66

Looks like cinders to me.

See very few actual rocks in it very fine ever what it is agree it does look like sand.