The cess in 4mm

[Gilbert]

I've been using wood ash for a good yard surface following the Barry Norman technique on his Right Track scenery DVD. Seems to do the job. It's much lighter than the various "ash" products but looks OK to my eye. ( I think we often use colours that are too dark when viewed on a model).

I've also just put some down in the cess on a new layout before ballasting.

[ColinK]

Would silica sand work, it is very fine? It would need painting afterwards. I’ve used it for rendering on a building and it worked well.

[davefrk]

Would silica sand work, it is very fine? It would need painting afterwards. I’ve used it for rendering on a building and it worked well.

Don't paint it afterwards, just add a few drops of black poster paint to the glue mix and the 'Early Learning Centre' play sand will take up the colour but the quartz bits won't so giving you the realistic variations.

Don't use sand straight off the beach as you would need to wash it thoroughly to get the bugs out of it.

 

 

As done with no weathering yet.

 

Dave.

[Siberian Snooper]

Firefox ash tends to be darker, due to a residue of not totally burnt coal, looks a bit like fine coke.

[stewartingram]

Firefox ash tends to be darker, due to a residue of not totally burnt coal, looks a bit like fine coke.

 

That's what you get if you don't stick with Microsoft!

 

Stewart

[Brassey]

This is a timely post as it's a subject I am deliberating at the moment whilst ballasting.  The earlier posts seem to group the cess and yards together but they are not the same.  AFAIK cess exists where there is a ballast shoulder and is part of the drainage but there is no ballast shoulder in a yard along sidings.  Did p/way gangs maintain sidings to the same level as running lines?

 

 

The above is a close-up from a photo dated 1932 of the station I am building.  As can be seen, the cess is lighter than the ballast on the main line where there is a ballast shoulder, and that alongside the siding and into the yard even lighter still.

 

Currently my cess is painted light grey but definitely will never be black

[Siberian Snooper]

No sidings were not maintained too the same level as running lines. I suspect that in truth, yards and sidings only got attention when something derailed, or the yard foreman raised an issue with the PW. Department.

[jim.snowdon]

Not only was ash ballast normal for sidings, but at time, quite few main lines as well. Crushed granite was expensive stuff.

 

It does mean that the light colouring of the six-foot may be no more than that is has been progressively compacted by time and feet. As if is, there doesn't appear to be any shoulder to the ballasting on either of the running lines.

 

Jim

[Brassey]

There is a ballast shoulder.  It is demonstrated in this thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/129110-wooferton/page-2 post no. 34, which is a shot at Woofferton the next station along.

 

Note that the ground cover alongside the siding is darker than the cess and that area might have been subjected to more walking from gangs.  I am not sure why the cess is lighter in this region but for my modelling purpose I note that it is.

 

I guess the same might apply to the yard ground covering which could be darker in some parts through coal dust.

[jim.snowdon]

There is a ballast shoulder.  It is demonstrated in this thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/129110-wooferton/page-2 post no. 34, which is a shot at Woofferton the next station along.

 

Note that the ground cover alongside the siding is darker than the cess and that area might have been subjected to more walking from gangs.  I am not sure why the cess is lighter in this region but for my modelling purpose I note that it is.

 

I guess the same might apply to the yard ground covering which could be darker in some parts through coal dust.

I'll take your word for it, but I'm not convinced, and the pictures of Wooferton aren't exactly convincing, largely by being taken across the track at a low angle.

 

Jim