Hi Dave. Excellent 'tutorial' style 👍 The junction of points on the East Side of my sidings are the next to be ballasted, so this is really useful to know 😀 👍 👍 👍 Stay safe mate, kind regards GWR
Aberystwyth Station - Great Western Railway thank you :-) glad it’s given you some help. If you don’t mind Please share it etc if you rate it as a good tutorial. If you’ve any questions on anything you’ve seen please get in touch, :-) Dave
Very well presented Dave I see lots of people found this useful. For the shoulder I was pleased to see you also just use your finger to clear the sleeper ends. On some sections of track mainly on curves I go straight to the glue application after that rather than tapping the rails The ridge left is often seen on real track and is sometimes even higher than the rail. I do not leave mine that high. It makes cleaning the rail tops hard to do.
cedarcam Cheers. Yeah the shoulder on some real tracks is high.... but as you correctly said it can make cleaning the track an issues with the track rubber anyway. Cheers. Dave
Thanks for the tutorial, I am just about to ballast some turnouts that I have been avoiding. As a tip I have used a plastic piping bag normally used for icing cakes, found in the baking section in supermarkets, to lay the ballast in the general areas. I have found it to be extremely controllable .
I found the ballasting of the points very interesting Dave, although you clearly showed the application of the PVA glue to the point mechanism, I was waiting to too the point in operation!...Superb work as always..Bob
Robert Masterman Hi Bob. Thanks. The key is not to saturate the area near the point mechanism. Just a drip near it. Glad to report all of the turnouts worked after it all dried haha.
Very timely video as I am looking to start ballasting next week. My ballast spreader arrived today and I have a small pack of ballast to practice with. So pleased to have seen how to do the points. That was worrying me.
Dave, excellent video on ballasting track. I learned a lot of tricks and tips. I really like the ballast spreader, seem to do a great job keeping it even. Thanks for sharing. Ken
Hi Dave, thanks for an excellent instructional video, this will be of great help to those doing ballasting for the first time, especially when ballasting points....Congrats. Cheers Greg
Excellent How to again Dave, looking forward to seeing it progress. Did you forget to put a sleeper in at the track join on the right hand side line? Right at the end of the film there.
Thanks Dave ,until now I’ve settled with foam ballast inlays ,great tutorial as always mate ,still can’t see why you got some thumbs down ,all the best ,Mark 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
1968concorde cheers Mark. There’s always experts that can do it better but don’t show us lol. Who cares. As long as sone people find it interesting and useful
Great description of the process Dave! Should be nice and clear for those who've not yet ballasted turnouts (or done so with disappointing results). Best, John
Another awesome instructional video. Very useful for my own knowledge when time come to ballast. After watching this though I am really not looking forward to ballasting the amount of point work involved in mine
Great video, as always. I agree with all the techniques shown, but as an alternative to the paint brush handle on the rails, I’ve found that the back of an old electric toothbrush vibrating along the sleepers is very effective.
I'm using the ballast magic from Deluxe on Tileford - not started ballasting in earnest yet but it'll be interesting to see how it compares to the more traditional methods.
Tileford I tried that!.... you have to be very precise with measuring out the ballast to powder ratio.... and it doesn’t go that far. I found it hit n miss! But I might have got my measurements wrong lol
Probably the best video I have seen on track ballasting, so thank you. Have just finished building the baseboards for my new layout and the cork has just arrived for the track underlay. Do you glue your cork down first before laying any track or rely on the track holding it in place until ballasted?
Trevor Ward hi thanks. I pin the track down aT intervals so that holds the track and cork in place. So no i don’t glue it. So glad you found it interesting and helpful. I have other videos on ballasting and on track weathering etc. Cheers. Dave
Thanks Dave, I'm working my way through the rest of your videos but it would help me if you could tell me which of them carries info on track laying and weathering. From what I have seen so far your layout and attention to detail are superb. Hope it's not too cold in the loft just now. Trevor
Thank you for sharing this video, as I was wondering how to Ballast the Points on my future layout. I nearly have all that I need to make it. But I am still looking for two twin Guagemaster Controllers, one with the brake simulation and one without. Martin (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Can I ask how you place the dummy point motors? Are they placed on the ballast after it has set? Trying to work out if the cork for the ballast shoulder should include space for the dummy point motor.
Hi, sorry for taking so long to reply... just saw this comment. When placing my ballast I make a small ballast platform for it to sit on. I press the dummy into the unglued ballast to get it fitting etc. Then very carefully remove and glue the ballast. When the ballast is dry I place the dummy back and make any adjustments to the ballast, using a small screwdriver to remove any ballast that’s settled and intrudes on where I want the dummy to sit. Once I’m happy, I just pop a couple of dabs of super glue onto bottom of dummy and glue to ballast. I then weather etc Hope that helps? Cheers Dave
Thanks very helpful anymore how 2s as they are kindly welcomed. Is the spray bottle just water and wash or do you add pva if so what is the 2nd pva in small bottle for.
Thanks for sharing that, I was thinking maybe you had to remove the point motors while ballasting. I’ll be coming to ballast in the next few weeks. One question I’d like to ask is I’m doing modern image fictional layout in Scotland and wanting the salmon pink colour you see, iron ore seems too red so would you mix grey and iron ore? Your thoughts would be gratefully received. Kind regards alex
Alex Savins hi, oh no...don’t remove the point motor. They’re difficult enough to install without doing it again and again lol I have tried pink ballasts on some dioramas (in the 80’s most of Scotland was still grey ballast). Woodland scenic iron ore ballast mixed with some grey blend was fine.... it tones down really well when weathered. Hope that helps. Dave
@@DeanPark thanks for the help on both accounts, a huge sigh of relief not to have to remove those pesky point motors lol. I'll get some grey ballast soon and start to experiment on mix ratios to see what suits me best. kind regards Alex
Dave many thanks for that. Avoiding the mechanism getting stuck is something that has troubled me for a while and at around £30 a pop for bullhead points not something that I want get wrong. If you don't mind me asking, what thickness of cork do you use and do you pin your track or fix it with adhesive? If the latter, which one do you recommend? Once again, many thanks for the great advice as ever - Pete
Creeping Jane hi Pete. I use 1/8” on the main lines and 1/16” on the depot and station, where I don’t want a ballast shoulder. I pin it in place as this allows easy adjustment.it will be fixed in place with the ballast anyway. I find gluing the track messy. Cheers. Dave
Great video ! Though i wouldnt ballast a point, not in the area with moving parts. I find it easier to paint and lightly ballast the ground. before Putting the point on the ground. That way you wont have any ptoblem with getting glue and ballast jamming the moving parts.
The editor in me noticed that the audio went a tad out of sync towards the end. :( Happens to me sometimes drives me mad. Anyway. How good is that ballast spreader of yours? Because I dont own one and often wonder about it. I plan (HAHAHAHAHA) on making another new 00 gauge layout.....at some point I dont know when. And im gathering ideas on building techniuqes and the like and wonder, if it would be a good investment?
Thanks Dave for another excellent tutorial. Just one question...@12.47 and @18.00 I notice you have not added a sleeper ubnder the fishplate / rail joiner. Do you add these or just leave them out? Cheers, Bob
@@DeanPark Fair comment. In cases like these I take a sleeper and cut it up to fit in. Glued down and with some good ballasting it seems to work quite well. Cheers, Bobn
Hi Dave. As always, a clear and concise ‘how you’ video. Now for the daft question of the week - I noticed during the video you have small gaps between rails(at the joiners), is this done purposely to allow trains to mimic the ‘clickerty-clack’? After you and others have mopped the tears of laughter away, I only asked as I had always made sure of a perfect join. As I am writing this, I am aware that droppers do provide necessary power to sections of track but, in case others were unsure, I decided to bite the bullet and ask the question anyway. Thanks Gary
A Train In Spain Hi Gary. Thanks for the feedback. Ok about the gaps. Totally deliberate.... as in the summer these food disappear as the heat up the loft expands the metal rail. I usually leave gaps on the straights, less so on curves (as I need a good flowing stable curve). So not a daft question... the clickety clack is an added bonus. :-) the gaps are wider just now as it is cold outside. Cheers. Dave
DaveClass47 : Metal expansion was not my first thought. However, makes total sense, of course. Why shouldn’t a model railway fall foul of nature just as the real thing does. As always you knowledge is wise and I take on board those comments. I am fortunate that whilst night time temperatures do drop markedly during the next few months, we are blessed with a much warmer climate overall. That said, I shall take heed and leave a little gap tolerance as I complete the track laying of my layout. I shall continue to absorb tips and mistakes shown by the various RUclips sites and, I am sure I am not alone by saying that this hobby is so much more enjoyable when guys like you share such details and offer genuine encouragement . Thanks again Gary
Hi Dave anther great video mate a Question for you Dave what colour paint do you use on your cable trunking Dave ? the class 89 ELEC loco is coming along reasonably will now I have got head and tails light for it now the painting should be finished in 2 weeks mate clive
I just want to point something out! (excuse the pun) but what happens if you end up putting glue on the point mechanism? is there a way to solve this or would you have to take the entire point out and start again?
Yep like Dave quite rightly says, it just blends in when weathered. The first points I did I painted the cork a matching grey, but the last ones I didn't bother and there's no difference to the eye.
Great tutorial. I like the way you ballast, always have. Clean results. Does the glue leave a residue on the sleepers? It doesn’t seem to show on video, but does it dry clear and look normal up close and personal? -Mark
M&M Rails hi. Thanks. The glue soaks away. I suppose these is a minute fine coverage of the sleeper but you can’t see it. This costing helps paint stick to the surface of the sleeper as the plastic they make them from is hard to get using to stick at times. Bottom line is.. you don’t see the glue at all once it’s dry :-) Cheers Dave
@@DeanPark I'm going over them every morning with boiling water and cotton buds and then a track rubber on the rail heads, you REALLY see how grubby your tracks are, I had 8 cotton buds completely black after half an hour
Hi Dave.
Excellent 'tutorial' style 👍 The junction of points on the East Side of my sidings are the next to be ballasted, so this is really useful to know 😀 👍 👍 👍
Stay safe mate, kind regards GWR
Aberystwyth Station - Great Western Railway thank you :-) glad it’s given you some help. If you don’t mind Please share it etc if you rate it as a good tutorial. If you’ve any questions on anything you’ve seen please get in touch, :-) Dave
Very well presented Dave I see lots of people found this useful. For the shoulder I was pleased to see you also just use your finger to clear the sleeper ends. On some sections of track mainly on curves I go straight to the glue application after that rather than tapping the rails The ridge left is often seen on real track and is sometimes even higher than the rail. I do not leave mine that high. It makes cleaning the rail tops hard to do.
cedarcam Cheers. Yeah the shoulder on some real tracks is high.... but as you correctly said it can make cleaning the track an issues with the track rubber anyway. Cheers. Dave
An excellent tutorial, I’ve never thought about using neat pva glue to ballast around the points.
Melford Horrocks Thanks. Glad it was useful to you :-) Dave
Thanks for the tutorial, I am just about to ballast some turnouts that I have been avoiding. As a tip I have used a plastic piping bag normally used for icing cakes, found in the baking section in supermarkets, to lay the ballast in the general areas. I have found it to be extremely controllable .
Very useful and informative; thanks for posting your efforts!
I found the ballasting of the points very interesting Dave, although you clearly showed the application of the PVA glue to the point mechanism, I was waiting to too the point in operation!...Superb work as always..Bob
Robert Masterman Hi Bob. Thanks. The key is not to saturate the area near the point mechanism. Just a drip near it. Glad to report all of the turnouts worked after it all dried haha.
@@DeanPark I knew they would, thanks Dave...All the Best...Bob
Very timely video as I am looking to start ballasting next week. My ballast spreader arrived today and I have a small pack of ballast to practice with. So pleased to have seen how to do the points. That was worrying me.
Roy Studds great, good luck with your ballasting. Take your time. :-) Cheers
DaveClass47 well, I’ve started! 2 points and a siding done today. 14 points and don’t know how much track to go. Not going to be a quick job!
Better than a track rubber for cleaning the rails is the matt side of a piece of hardboard, it doesn’t leave minute scratches that later pick up dirt.
Dave, excellent video on ballasting track. I learned a lot of tricks and tips. I really like the ballast spreader, seem to do a great job keeping it even. Thanks for sharing. Ken
M and B Homestead yeah ballast spreaders speed things up as well :-)
Thanks Dave that was very useful as in due course I will have to ballast my track. Cheers Kev
Medway Peninsula Model Railway It’s easy. If you take your time and don’t rush :-)
Thanks Dave for the tip on ballasting as I just about to ballast a point myself.
David Ellingford cheers. Good luck
Hi Dave, thanks for an excellent instructional video, this will be of great help to those doing ballasting for the first time, especially when ballasting points....Congrats. Cheers Greg
Greg Hale Cheers Greg. I hope people find it useful. It’s certainly a question I get asked a lot :-) Dave
Excellent How to again Dave, looking forward to seeing it progress.
Did you forget to put a sleeper in at the track join on the right hand side line?
Right at the end of the film there.
Thanks Dave ,until now I’ve settled with foam ballast inlays ,great tutorial as always mate ,still can’t see why you got some thumbs down ,all the best ,Mark 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
1968concorde cheers Mark. There’s always experts that can do it better but don’t show us lol. Who cares. As long as sone people find it interesting and useful
Great video as per usual David. JohnE
Great description of the process Dave! Should be nice and clear for those who've not yet ballasted turnouts (or done so with disappointing results). Best, John
Schuylkill River Valley cheers John
Another awesome instructional video. Very useful for my own knowledge when time come to ballast. After watching this though I am really not looking forward to ballasting the amount of point work involved in mine
Corunna Railway Line don’t try to do it all at once! It will drive u mad lol
Excellent tutorial Dave, thanks for sharing...........John.
John Carvil cheers John
Great video, as always. I agree with all the techniques shown, but as an alternative to the paint brush handle on the rails, I’ve found that the back of an old electric toothbrush vibrating along the sleepers is very effective.
Brian Dunning a good alternative! :-)
Thank you so helpful great tutorial.
Bob Westwood cool, glad you found it of use :-) Dave
Very useful, I can now go back and finish my points properly. Incidentally, I use old Roket card glue bottles for the PVA mix.
doogs126 good idea for the bottle. Anything that Gives you control.
Another great and interesting video. Keep up the good work
Wander if Rod Stewart is a secret Dean park fan lol
Me and Rod...we are best mates! lol. But I do wonder! lol. Dave
Great instructional video, going to follow this on my layout.👍
Richard Swallow great, glad it’s going to of some use :-) Dave
DaveClass47 just gave it ago...👌
I'm using the ballast magic from Deluxe on Tileford - not started ballasting in earnest yet but it'll be interesting to see how it compares to the more traditional methods.
Tileford I tried that!.... you have to be very precise with measuring out the ballast to powder ratio.... and it doesn’t go that far. I found it hit n miss! But I might have got my measurements wrong lol
Very useful tips for Ballantine the points area can be a nightmare it's looking great
john taylor I can’t say I enjoy ballasting points but it needs to be done lol
Another great how to video Dave, Thankyou
Ewood Railway cheers. Dave
What a great video Dave what was the bottle u used for the glue please ?
Probably the best video I have seen on track ballasting, so thank you. Have just finished building the baseboards for my new layout and the cork has just arrived for the track underlay. Do you glue your cork down first before laying any track or rely on the track holding it in place until ballasted?
Trevor Ward hi thanks. I pin the track down aT intervals so that holds the track and cork in place. So no i don’t glue it. So glad you found it interesting and helpful. I have other videos on ballasting and on track weathering etc. Cheers. Dave
Thanks Dave, I'm working my way through the rest of your videos but it would help me if you could tell me which of them carries info on track laying and weathering. From what I have seen so far your layout and attention to detail are superb. Hope it's not too cold in the loft just now. Trevor
Thank you for sharing this video, as I was wondering how to Ballast the Points on my future layout. I nearly have all that I need to make it. But I am still looking for two twin Guagemaster Controllers, one with the brake simulation and one without. Martin (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Very helpful for when I get to that stage, good video
I thought it would help you! ;-)
I know your not a fan of it but azuma is passing on the 25th this month on the kings X to Aberdeen service gets into the station at 1911
Quite interesting, have to bear those "shoulders" on the ballast for high speed rail! Are you going to Warley, if you are I'll see you there!
Hi, thanks. Its one of these videos that is a useful instruction and reference. I plan to go to Warley ;-) Dave
Can I ask how you place the dummy point motors? Are they placed on the ballast after it has set? Trying to work out if the cork for the ballast shoulder should include space for the dummy point motor.
Hi, sorry for taking so long to reply... just saw this comment.
When placing my ballast I make a small ballast platform for it to sit on. I press the dummy into the unglued ballast to get it fitting etc. Then very carefully remove and glue the ballast.
When the ballast is dry I place the dummy back and make any adjustments to the ballast, using a small screwdriver to remove any ballast that’s settled and intrudes on where I want the dummy to sit. Once I’m happy, I just pop a couple of dabs of super glue onto bottom of dummy and glue to ballast. I then weather etc
Hope that helps?
Cheers
Dave
Thanks very helpful anymore how 2s as they are kindly welcomed.
Is the spray bottle just water and wash or do you add pva if so what is the 2nd pva in small bottle for.
Thanks for sharing that, I was thinking maybe you had to remove the point motors while ballasting. I’ll be coming to ballast in the next few weeks. One question I’d like to ask is I’m doing modern image fictional layout in Scotland and wanting the salmon pink colour you see, iron ore seems too red so would you mix grey and iron ore? Your thoughts would be gratefully received. Kind regards alex
Alex Savins hi, oh no...don’t remove the point motor. They’re difficult enough to install without doing it again and again lol
I have tried pink ballasts on some dioramas (in the 80’s most of Scotland was still grey ballast). Woodland scenic iron ore ballast mixed with some grey blend was fine.... it tones down really well when weathered. Hope that helps.
Dave
@@DeanPark thanks for the help on both accounts, a huge sigh of relief not to have to remove those pesky point motors lol. I'll get some grey ballast soon and start to experiment on mix ratios to see what suits me best. kind regards Alex
Hopefully might see you at Warley on the Saturday
Likewise, I hope to see you.
Dave many thanks for that. Avoiding the mechanism getting stuck is something that has troubled me for a while and at around £30 a pop for bullhead points not something that I want get wrong. If you don't mind me asking, what thickness of cork do you use and do you pin your track or fix it with adhesive? If the latter, which one do you recommend? Once again, many thanks for the great advice as ever - Pete
Creeping Jane hi Pete. I use 1/8” on the main lines and 1/16” on the depot and station, where I don’t want a ballast shoulder.
I pin it in place as this allows easy adjustment.it will be fixed in place with the ballast anyway. I find gluing the track messy. Cheers. Dave
@@DeanPark Once again Dave, many thanks for your help. Bets wishes - Pete
Great video ! Though i wouldnt ballast a point, not in the area with moving parts. I find it easier to paint and lightly ballast the ground. before Putting the point on the ground. That way you wont have any ptoblem with getting glue and ballast jamming the moving parts.
The editor in me noticed that the audio went a tad out of sync towards the end. :( Happens to me sometimes drives me mad.
Anyway. How good is that ballast spreader of yours? Because I dont own one and often wonder about it. I plan (HAHAHAHAHA) on making another new 00 gauge layout.....at some point I dont know when. And im gathering ideas on building techniuqes and the like and wonder, if it would be a good investment?
Thanks Dave for another excellent tutorial. Just one question...@12.47 and @18.00 I notice you have not added a sleeper ubnder the fishplate / rail joiner. Do you add these or just leave them out? Cheers, Bob
trainmanbob hi Bob, I usually do try to add them. But in this case there were dropper wires attached to Bottom of track and I couldn’t. Dave
@@DeanPark Fair comment. In cases like these I take a sleeper and cut it up to fit in. Glued down and with some good ballasting it seems to work quite well. Cheers, Bobn
Probably an idea to paint the sides of rails before ballasting.
I do that after with an airbrush and weather the ballast too. It works well.
Hi Dave. As always, a clear and concise ‘how you’ video. Now for the daft question of the week - I noticed during the video you have small gaps between rails(at the joiners), is this done purposely to allow trains to mimic the ‘clickerty-clack’?
After you and others have mopped the tears of laughter away, I only asked as I had always made sure of a perfect join. As I am writing this, I am aware that droppers do provide necessary power to sections of track but, in case others were unsure, I decided to bite the bullet and ask the question anyway. Thanks Gary
A Train In Spain Hi Gary. Thanks for the feedback.
Ok about the gaps. Totally deliberate.... as in the summer these food disappear as the heat up the loft expands the metal rail. I usually leave gaps on the straights, less so on curves (as I need a good flowing stable curve).
So not a daft question... the clickety clack is an added bonus. :-) the gaps are wider just now as it is cold outside. Cheers. Dave
DaveClass47 : Metal expansion was not my first thought. However, makes total sense, of course. Why shouldn’t a model railway fall foul of nature just as the real thing does. As always you knowledge is wise and I take on board those comments. I am fortunate that whilst night time temperatures do drop markedly during the next few months, we are blessed with a much warmer climate overall. That said, I shall take heed and leave a little gap tolerance as I complete the track laying of my layout. I shall continue to absorb tips and mistakes shown by the various RUclips sites and, I am sure I am not alone by saying that this hobby is so much more enjoyable when guys like you share such details and offer genuine encouragement . Thanks again Gary
great video
Hi Dave anther great video mate a Question for you Dave what colour paint do you use on your cable trunking Dave ? the class 89 ELEC loco is coming along reasonably will now I have got head and tails light for it now the painting should be finished in 2 weeks mate clive
clive cobbold Hi Clive. I use precision new concrete paint through airbrush on the trunking.
DaveClass47 hi Dave thanks for that information mate clive
I just want to point something out! (excuse the pun) but what happens if you end up putting glue on the point mechanism? is there a way to solve this or would you have to take the entire point out and start again?
Would it be easier if I were to use the proses ballast spreader wagon to lay the ballast then add glue/ glue,water mixture on the necessary areas?
On normal track yes, but for turnouts I would recommend you do it this way. Dave
What would you suggest to do about the bit of cork you can see at the points
Vincent Weatherly when it’s weathered.. that blends in.
Yep like Dave quite rightly says, it just blends in when weathered.
The first points I did I painted the cork a matching grey, but the last ones I didn't bother and there's no difference to the eye.
Great tutorial. I like the way you ballast, always have. Clean results. Does the glue leave a residue on the sleepers? It doesn’t seem to show on video, but does it dry clear and look normal up close and personal? -Mark
M&M Rails hi. Thanks. The glue soaks away. I suppose these is a minute fine coverage of the sleeper but you can’t see it. This costing helps paint stick to the surface of the sleeper as the plastic they make them from is hard to get using to stick at times.
Bottom line is.. you don’t see the glue at all once it’s dry :-)
Cheers
Dave
Hello Dave, great tutorial. One question, after the glue has dried, wouldn’t you “ Hoover” the excess loose ballast off the track? See ya next time.
Norman Rowe Hi, I don’t have loose ballast ... it’s well and truly stuck down. Lol but yes I’d Hoover any debris up. :-) Dave
I hate to nit pick, but did you forget to put in an extra sleeper under the joints, or do you not do that? Cheers
davie maclean I couldn’t on that particular area as I had droppers soldered there. Usually I put the sleepers back in if possible
@@DeanPark Fair enough Dave. I knew, with your attention to detail, there would be a reason for it. Cheers, Davie
where did you get your furniture for new depot
Hi most of it is from www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/lx284-oo-office-desks--chairs-pack-of-6---oo4mm176-8819-p.asp?aff=2 I hope this helps. Dave
Great tutorial it must be difficult to ballast a point beauteous of the moving parts on them
Yup its easy, but you gotta be careful. Dave
I watched this and thought nah I've got this 😏 2 days later I'm still scrubbing the point blades 😭
Lol! My blades rarely get cleaned
@@DeanPark I'm going over them every morning with boiling water and cotton buds and then a track rubber on the rail heads, you REALLY see how grubby your tracks are, I had 8 cotton buds completely black after half an hour
No red ballast? I thought this was a Scottish layout :-)
Georgeasaurus2001 in the 80’s it was grey! :-)