The Potters Orchid Railway

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

First ballast trials with the down under SBR (Davco Lanko 751)
A mix of 2-3mm granite chips and colours
Sand and black mortar dye into the loco service area to start with because if The Plod makes a proper mess he can tip steam steam oil all over it and make it black and oily :-)



He dribbled it on neat, but it seemed it was not flowing very well through the mix, so he sprayed some water with a few drops of detergent over it and it seemed to flow then. We shall see if it sets well enough to withstand the track cleaning blow off with the garden hose before running sessions.



Crikey, this looks a mess



Plod covered it up last night and this morning had a peep. He felt a bit better about it all and with some summer sun on it today should get the bake off going nicely.
Technique refinements will no doubt occur as Plod moves onto other sections.

[philipy]

Those last 2 or 3 shots look about the way mine looked with newly 'applied' SBR!

(Thanks for the update on Mr Spectre, sounds good to me.)

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Those last 2 or 3 shots look about the way mine looked with newly 'applied' SBR!

(Thanks for the update on Mr Spectre, sounds good to me.)

• Good to hear, that is reassuring.

• Super the POR management team will pass this onto Mr Specture. His after hours decadence and debauchery is his own business however his Mum might frown upon his exploits if she ever found out.

[ge_rik]

Your SBR looks a lot thicker than mine which I generally thin down further to help it flow. Mine starts off with the consistency of single cream, yours looks more like custard.

Rik

[Peter Butler]

In a warm, dry, climate (i.e. anywhere except Wales) I would expect the surface of neat SBR to congeal quite rapidly, as shown in the pictures. Assuming the concrete is already holding heat and the air is warm and dry it is probably to be expected. I never use water on my ballast and try to apply when there is no sign of rain, but conditions are never equal to what Dazza is experiencing. It should dry out well and be permanent. The sleepers will need scraping but dry SBR peels off plastic easily.

[Phil.P]

Looks good to me..

Just pretend it is a frosty morning, somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere!


Phil.P

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Your SBR looks a lot thicker than mine which I generally thin down further to help it flow. Mine starts off with the consistency of single cream, yours looks more like custard.

Rik

I wet the track bed before I put down the dry ballast.
Then I dribbled neat SBR as per Peter B has written I actually sprayed a mist of water over the top of it all to aid the diffusion of the SBR through the ballast medium.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

In a warm, dry, climate (i.e. anywhere except Wales) I would expect the surface of neat SBR to congeal quite rapidly, as shown in the pictures. Assuming the concrete is already holding heat and the air is warm and dry it is probably to be expected. I never use water on my ballast and try to apply when there is no sign of rain, but conditions are never equal to what Dazza is experiencing. It should dry out well and be permanent. The sleepers will need scraping but dry SBR peels off plastic easily.

After 24 hours the first trial was showing nice signs for drying out and holding the ballast firm. That gave me confidence that is will work OK.
I have done a bit more last night and lifted the covers off to expose it to the sun.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

24 hours after applying it looked like this. A good day of sunshine and the next few days the temp will be mid to high thirties. Out in western Queensland it will get 46 degrees ! Crikey !
The track in the foreground has a different mix with some sand and also some black mortar dye.
It is the loco service area and it should be black, grimy, oily and ash ballast. However this is the chosen test site for technique refinement. I expect I will go over this area again lifting the ballast/dirt level to cover the sleepers.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

6th Dec, MAM returned home with some 1mm washed sand.



2-3mm granite chips, black sand added to alter the fill, and some black mortar dye was churned into the mix.



Bare bed and Peco SM32



Plod wets the bed and applied the Mk3 test mix.



Captain Plod applies neat Lanka 571.
Does he know what the heck is going to happen ?
Fark no!
The important thing is that is looks reasonable but most importantly the ballast is secure, able to withstand the garden hose wash offs to remove leaves and snails etc.



A mist of water was sprayed over the area



The supports for the coverings.



Plod then covered it all up and went up to shower, a glass of tomato juice (no wine this week ) and make dinner of omelettes with organic mushrooms and steamed vegies

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Plod added some more mix on top of the earlier loco service area, more dye and 1mm black sand.
This morning 12 hours later it looks like this. Plod reckons nothing will beat the real thing so he is going to bring back half a litre of steam oil home and tip it all over this area to get the grime and ash crud grime effect. Plod seems to have developed a strange fascination for loco shed grime.



The new area that had the new mix applied looks like this after 12 hours over night.
It is now exposed to the days good sun.
Note the station yard areas will have similar brew but without the black mortar dye.
The single track will have clean ballast thus no sand added.



Stay tuned for more exciting episodes of the Captain Plod and the POR's great ballast trials

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

POR Ballast Report, location new locomotive roads # 1 and # 2 at Cabbage Tree Creek Station. After 6 hours of the Queensland morning sun the bake off is going well. Very firm already.

[FWLR]

Your second attempt is brilliant Dazza, not that the first was any less brilliant, but the black sand has helped it look more realistic in my view.

[Phil.P]

Do you do anything to your points (turnouts) before applying ballast or 'goop', to stop them being gummed-up, and sticking?

Phil.P

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Your second attempt is brilliant Dazza, not that the first was any less brilliant, but the black sand has helped it look more realistic in my view.

Thanks and yes.
This ballasting caper is this season's summer time sport. The plan is each evening after work, a couple of hours in the shade, doing some therapeutic nudging of little stone chips into place, listening to the cricket, allowing for thunderstorms and then letting the next day's 35 + degree solar to bake it off. It is already within 24 -48 hours quite firm, no doubt not fully cured so I well keep covering up from potential storms rolling in.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Do you do anything to your points (turnouts) before applying ballast or 'goop', to stop them being gummed-up, and sticking?

Phil.P

Blue tack was placed over the mech and tape over the top of that. Just where the spring thingie and tie bar slides. The next morning, just like I have done just now, I go out remove the blue tack and tape and wipe the blade plates etc with a wet rage poked in with tweezers. The a drip some drops of oil on the blade plates, tie bar and over lock spring thingie. No problem with the first two points since the weekend. As I work from home I go out and check a few times and make sure all is moving.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Captain Plod's winter time sport is digging holes, mixing concrete and shoveling dirt here and there and heaving stuff to there and back to here, but this year he has a new summer time sport. It is nudging little granite chips around Peco SM32 track.
Plod explains in a recent interview "It is quite therapeutic and my dim mind enjoys this, especially when listening to some test cricket"
There was no black mortar dye added to the new section. Plod also got a bashometer and chisel and chipped off the track bed edges to break the straight even edge of the track bed. When the ground covers nestle up to it he thinks it will look OK. One day or rather one year, perhaps in the next decade the area will be full of buildings and details but till then.



So far the loco roads look OK and Plod is thinking of how to simulate ash.
So far all has set quite firm after a day exposed to the increasing ferocity of the Qld summer sun .

[Peter Butler]

That is drying out incredibly fast.... I've never seen it do that in our climate. The result looks perfect, at least here on the screen... I hope you are satisfied with it on-site. You would find it difficult to remove now I bet!

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

That is drying out incredibly fast.... I've never seen it do that in our climate. The result looks perfect, at least here on the screen... I hope you are satisfied with it on-site. You would find it difficult to remove now I bet!

Queensland is the skin cancer capital of the world so the sun is harsh. Imagine what it does to exposed skin. Watching tourists from northern latitudes scoff at all the sun warnings here then within a day or two of their holiday/honeymoon brings on the "I told you so" moment". Crikey you will see cooked lobsters at the beach any day. Blisters and sun stroke sick for a week is not fun. As I wee lad I learnt my leasson on a cramping trip.
I am pleased with the result. I had some anxiousness as I set off on this ballast caper but so far it has not proved too difficult. Sourcing 2-3mm granite chips took a while.
It was your ballast posts in your forum thread that convinced me to try the SBR path. Finding our down under SBR equivalent took a bit of snooping but it was here all the time. I am off at lunchtime to get more 1mm aquarium sand and look at different colours.

[ge_rik]

....... a cramping trip.

I've had a few of those .... Legs too long, tent too small .......

Rik