Cheddar P4 - Aug 2018 update - ballast

Entry posted by ullypug August 8, 2018

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So it's been an interesting week.
Having ballasted the first three boards for Cheddar following the same procedure; using Klear as a wetting agent then applying diluted PVA, I wasn't really happy with the outcome. A chat with the Attwood Aggregates people and Gordon Gravett at the Minehead show last Saturday confirmed that the ballast indeed was too dark for the Dulcote Stone it was supposed to be representing. I purchased a couple more bags and and when I got home made an unpleasant discovery. I had mistakenly used Mendip Stone instead of Dulcote Stone for the first 3 boards. No wonder!! Mendip stone is indeed a darker colour and not what I was trying to replicate. In the photos I have, the ballast is light in colour - much lighter than the cess material. Dulcote stone weathers to an off white almost as it oxidises.
So, muttering from the Scalefour Society approved lexicon of expletives, I set about chiselling out a short section and re-applying the correct stone, using water and washing up liquid in an atomiser to wet everything and then applying the diluted PVA/washing up liquid mix. After it had dried I was pleased that the stone had held its original colour and gave the effect I was looking for.
The bad news is that this meant I then had to chisel out all the ballast from the remaining 3 boards and repeat the application process, which is where I am now.
Thankfully, the foam trackbed allows the ballast to be removed relatively easily with a chisel pointed scraper. It just took a bit of time.
I'd also forgotten that you achieve better results for thin sleepered track if you lay it in a bed of glue and then sprinkle ballast on top, rather than 'the usual way'. As you can see in the photos I've had problems with the ballast floating off in places, despite wetting and having washing up liquid in the PVA. However, a little aftercare with a scraper, glue and some fine quarry dust will fill the remaining holes and improve things I hope. It had better!!
Here are some before and after photos

final effect I'm after in the foreground, the first 10 sleepers having been tidied up.