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Economical Ballast for 027 Lionel Trains
Joe has kindly sent in an idea to share with others in the hobby.
I found a way to get ballast for 0 and 027 track. First of all I have been purchasing old track at train swap meets. Track and switches are there for a minimal cost. When doing different jobs in my garage, I was using play sand from The Home Depot for cleaning metal parts. The bigger grit of the sand sped up the sand blasting process. However some of the sand stones were too big for the nozzle forcing me to sift them out. Unbelievably, the pebbles that were sifted out from a normal aluminum screen turned out to be a great ballast size for my train layout.
Track ballast on Joe’s model railway layout.
With the three rail system, the space between the rails had to be spread out in order for the train wheels not to touch. (causing a derailment). After the ballast was in place, I used clear lacquer spray paint over the stone and saturated it. Once the lacquer dries, everything stays in place. The clear lacquer paint comes in spray cans at Lowe’s or The Home Depot, in their spray paint departments. You can guard for over-spray with news papers. Make sure you quickly remove the newspaper before the lacquer sets. The final step is to wipe the track with lacquer thinner on a rag to remove the lacquer and allow electrical contact with the trains. Most important is to allow adequate time for the paint and thinner to cure. ANY FUME CAN BE IGNITED FOR AN ELECTRICAL SPARK.
There are other methods of securing the ballast. Woodland Scenics has a material for this purpose that is water based. Either way the ballast looks real. I purchased a 50lb bag of sand for around $1.98 and gave me enough ballast to spread out on 60 feet of track after sifted. One can of spray paint covered over 30 feet pending on the amount of saturation applied. Click the BLUE title to add your comment or suggestion. Comments will be published as soon as they get approved by the blog moderator.
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Sounds like a good source for ballast and at a reasonable cost. However, the lacquer spray is catastrophe waiting to happen both health wise and fire wise in a confined interior house room. I would really recommend using the water based alternative and be safe without the fumes and fire hazard.