John, that’s the same here to. It’s a reddish and grey kind. Ahhhhh…crusher fines! Man, that was driving me nuts, I couldn’t think of what it was called. lol.
Hmmmmm…I hadn’t priced either of them yet, but from the sounds of it I may end up with t he crusher fines. lol.
Great progress.
Crusher Fines, Stone Dust, Stone Sand, Quarter Minus, Paver Base are all regional names I’ve heard for the same product. I’m sure there are more!
The fine slag I used to use was called A1 slag. But now I use crushed limestone.
Out here, what I use is called ““Aglime””…
Matt Russell said:
John, that’s the same here to. It’s a reddish and grey kind. Ahhhhh…crusher fines! Man, that was driving me nuts, I couldn’t think of what it was called. lol.
Hmmmmm…I hadn’t priced either of them yet, but from the sounds of it I may end up with t he crusher fines. lol.
You could fill and shape a road bed of cheap crusher fines to fill up all the nooks and crannies in your large-rock roadbed, then lay down a layer of chicken grit over that. I’ve done that with light, white, cheap oyster shell fill, then used chicken grit. It was indoors, or protected under a porch anyway, but it might work out in the elements also.
I had no idea crusher fines were called so many things; reminds me of our discussion about the various names for chicken wire…oh, no!
Holy Cow, I had no idea there were soooooo many different names for it. lol. Thanks guys!
I may do a test section first, to see how much I will loose to the base roadbed. I did a price check of chicken grit at rural king and tsc, it’s about $6 a bag!
Hi Matt , I used crushed limestone on top of the gravel when I first did the railroad . The problem was later down the road when I did switch to chicken grit the white limestone always seemed to surface through the grit. That is no longer a issue cuz its been 11 years since its been built and a few layers of grit since then . I still have one spot where the crushed limestone is still visible but its color has “weathered” and is not as noticeable. I might consider play sand if I was to do it again and then a 1" - 2" layer of chicken grit over that . Just a thought .
Play sand might not be the best choice. Sharp builder’s sand might be better, if you really want to go that route. Just a thought.
I have found over the years that the fines wash away or simply disappears that is why I don’t bother with them anymore. Yes the 3/8th blue stone I do use is way out of scale but it stays in place pretty good.
In my main yard which is sitting on a plywood base I tossed aquarium gravel around and whenever it rained those little bits worked their way into the switches fouling them up.
I prefer to keep things simple and the less maintenance the better.
After 18 years of using crusher fines…I’m also switching over to crushed stone. With a good base, crusher fines will hold up well in most situations. If you have any puddling or streaming in heavy rain however, it will erode and will usually have to be resurfaced especially after winter.
I’m switching over for two reasons. 1. I need the roadbed to be more durable, consistent and level throughout the railroad for operational improvement. 2. I want to reduce the amount of grit which that gets in the inner workings of the trains. This is particularly important for live steam, and a primary reason why many LS layouts are elevated.
Here’s my recipe for 2015. 1-1/2in crushed stone base, + 1/2in blue stone binder, + 3/8in crushed for ballast.
I found that this combination is both weather and leaf blower proof!
Matt Russell said:
Holy Cow, I had no idea there were soooooo many different names for it. lol. Thanks guys!
Whatever you call it, do not forget to wash out the dust before you lay it down. Use a kitchen colander, or what we call around here a spaghetti strainer. (By the way, the leftover dust/fine grain comes in handy, so, myself, I don’t throw it out.)
Todd and Jeff…what is blue stone, or blue stone binder?
John,
I believe blue stone is just a more uniform colored crushed granite…it looks the same as what Matt uses on page 12.
I’m buying a locally sourced 1-1/2in crushed stone for the base which has a variety of granite coloring. The blue stone will lay on top of this and help bind the roadway together by filling in the gaps in the larger stone. The track will bassically lay on top of the blue stone and the 3/8 will be poured over the track and leveled.
John Passaro said:
Matt Russell said:
Holy Cow, I had no idea there were soooooo many different names for it. lol. Thanks guys!
Whatever you call it, do not forget to wash out the dust before you lay it down. Use a kitchen colander, or what we call around here a spaghetti strainer. (By the way, the leftover dust/fine grain comes in handy, so, myself, I don’t throw it out.)
John, I’m curious as why you recommend this. In the product I use the dust acts as a binder. After I spread the ballast the way I like it I wet it down and it tends to stick together rather well.
I used chicken grit on my first layout, before we moved out here… It also would disappear… Seems it was the right size for the birds to swallow, to help digest the seeds and stuff they eat… To me, maintenance on the track is just part of the running a railroad…
Any kind of ballast is going to move/wash away some… Eventually, it all settles in and becomes easier to manage…
Just my opinion…
I have been use a small stone called “rice stone” up here in Mass. for ballast.
3/8"and 1/4" crushed/trapped stone with sharp edges work the best.
This drains real well and really is un effected by rain.
This is the stone dust I first used…as you can see…it moves with rain… Check out the stuff on the rails .
Great info guys! much appreciated! 
Daktah John said:
John, I’m curious as why you recommend this. In the product I use the dust acts as a binder. After I spread the ballast the way I like it I wet it down and it tends to stick together rather well.
My experience is that it turns back to dust and gets into everything, maybe because in the mountains here it’s so dry usually; but it’s dry where you are too, so I don’t exactly know…maybe we need to hire a mineralogist to figure this one out.
Made a little more progress. I was wanting to haul dirt in yesterday, but just didn’t get time.
Posts are all in. I originally was going to make the backdrop higher, like Mike Dorsch’s layout. But, we won’t be living here forever. So, I’d just like to get the layout done so I an enjoy it for a while.
Since my plans for this area changed, I needed to build some roadbed support. Originally this was going t all be gravel. Now, It won’t. It’s hard to tell in the picture because of the sun, but I started putting the support in about where the switch is.
…and I ran out of rebar. I hope to pick some up this week and get the road bed finished. Then start hauling some dirt in. I probably have a solid 5-6 hours of dirty hauling to do for this area, but that only leaves two small area’s that will need back filled after this.
“butt hat”? I was trying to figure what that was when I realized you meant “but that”. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
XX
