![]() ![]() You may have to mix colors of Ballast.Īs the general consensus suggests, steam roads ballasted yards and secondary tracks with cinders, which allowed water to drain down and away from the tracks (you sometimes came across little streams and culverts in some yards for this purpose), while main line trackage was graded to be higher than the surrounding terrain, with gravel ballast tamped well to keep the tracks in place-and usually had ditches running parallel to carry runoff to streams that ran through the grade in culverts. ![]() Go to a quarry in you area and see the color. Just try to match the local rock in your area you are modeling. It was not cost efective to haul stone hundreds of miles when you can get it just a few miles away. But the mains are always groomed 3 inch minus stone from the local quaries. Its your rail road so use what ever you want. Here on Cape Cod sand was used and in the hey day even clam and oyster shells for ballast. ![]() A small hot rolling mill could generate hundreds of tons of it in a week. My uncle worked for USS and loaded open hoppers with slag. ![]() Most of the yard track around Cleveland was laid in slag. Slag was a waste product from the mills that was given to the RRs. The smaller granules where better for the crews who worked the switches instead of tripping on rocks. Secondary lines and yards where great places to have slag from the steel mills and cinders from the service areas. The PRR used whatever they could get cheap for fill and ballast. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |