Yard road surface.
Board #4 ballasting.
Nice to have a full house again.
After a discussion about how to make-up the yard level to allow the roadway dust to be applied just below rail level, it was decided to cover the foam sub-base with thin card - probably two layers. Stephen got started cutting out the pieces and had the first section glued and weighted down before we broke early due to the heat.
Geoff decided to ballast the mainline track on board #4. The ballast we use harks back to John Langridge days. John worked for British Airways engineering dept. and brought home leftover granules used for soaking up oil spillages. The tub we are still using had some larger than needed lumps and needed sieving. No suitable sieve could be found, so a yoghurt pot had holes drilled in the bottom, which were made larger until the correct maximum size was achieved. In a change to previous applications, a mix of water and isopropyl alcohol was used to wet the ballast. Geoff had picked up this technique from some of the numerous American YouTube videos he watches. Finally, slightly diluted PVA was dribbled over the ballast. We'll see what difference it makes next week.
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| Placing the ballast with a paint brush. |
