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Offline laalves  
#1 Posted : 20 February 2004 13:19:26(UTC)
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laalves


Joined: 10/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 2,162
Location: Portugal
Dear all,

For those of you in Germany, how do you compare C track ballast colour with the today's real ballast colour?

For those of you in Germany AND a bit older, how do you compare C track ballast colour with the era II and III real ballast colour?

I ask this because I'm planning my layout now and have to decide if I'm going going towards mostly C or mostly K track. For me, C track has the advantage of having the raised bed, saving on ballast and having the turnout motors already concealed. I would anyway aply lots of Busch's C track ballast on the sides of the C track plastic ballast and carefuly blend it with the surroundings, using weathering techniques, killing the plasticky sheen with flat varnish and varying the colours with dry brushing and pastel/oil washes; still I must know if dark gray is a good basis.

I tryed and I find it even possible to conceal the sleepers with the ballast, when so desired, leaving the studs visible enough for the pickup sliders.

Luis.
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Offline Nuno  
#2 Posted : 20 February 2004 21:02:24(UTC)
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Nuno


Joined: 27/05/2003(UTC)
Posts: 235
Location: ,
Hi Luis

I am not German, in fact I am Portuguese too, but I have been to germany many times and I can tell you that when I was travelling betwwen Kassel and Frankfurt on the ICE, looking at the track, I was certainly seeing the C track. The true colour is very much alike the one you get with Maerklin, as they use basalt as the type of stone and I think this is what happen in general in the north of Europe.

In fact I read some time ago that basalt is the best type of stone for ballast.

Moreover, the ICE line had a cable along between the rails to transmit the information between signals, so even that resembled the middle studs of the Maerklin C track.

So what I intend to do (when I reach that stage) is to leave the C track as it is (I mean in hight), outside the station yards, just addind a little bit of ballast (Bush or Noch)to make a soft transition to the lanscape. I think that would be close to reallity.

At the station yards, normally you do not observe high levels of ballast, normally the tracks just slightly emerge from the ground and even sometimes you hardly see the sleepers themselves. So, in my opinion, at the stations you should fill the spaces between the tracks, to hide most of the ballast. I mean the ballast is there, you just do not notice the ups and downs, everything is flat, unless it is a very new track. An alternative would be to use K track at the station areas, around the turntable, etc.

Cheers,

Nuno Smile
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Offline rugauger  
#3 Posted : 23 February 2004 16:02:31(UTC)
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rugauger

United Kingdom   
Joined: 19/12/2003(UTC)
Posts: 1,205
Location: Swindon, Wiltshire
Hello

I think the colour of the ballast can vary significantly. First, I have read that the colour varies depending on the region because different kinds of stone have been used in different parts of the country. Second, the ballast will have more of the rusty brown tone at and near stations due to the increased friction and abrasion from the wheels caused by trains breaking and accelerating.

Have a look at some prototype photos in magazines and on the net; this should give you an idea. From what I've seen, unless you model a brand new ICE route (which Nuno describes in his posting), a lot, if not the majority, of track is generally some shade of rusty brown.

So, in my view, you have two options:

1. Find a ballast that is a very close colour match to the grey of the C-Track, otherwise it will look awful (just have a look at the M* catalogue...!).

2. Buy the ballast in the colour of your preference and airbrush the C-Track with a matching colour (I've seen examples of this on the net). In my opinion, this can give the track a very realistic appearance.
Richard
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Offline Alberto Pedrini  
#4 Posted : 11 March 2005 13:34:25(UTC)
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Alberto Pedrini

Italy   
Joined: 02/07/2004(UTC)
Posts: 1,448
Location: Italy
Hi Friens,
I have got recently a good ballast to add my C track when I build a temporary layout. When I finish I take a vacuum cleaner and recover all for new use.
It's by noch cod.09376 and look very fine

UserPostedImage
Alberto

Marklinfan Club Italia
www.marklinfan.net
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Offline hmsfix  
#5 Posted : 11 March 2005 15:29:17(UTC)
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hmsfix


Joined: 06/02/2005(UTC)
Posts: 1,383
Location: Darmstadt,
Hi Luis,

I agree with Nuno and Alberto what the colour of the ballast concerns. There are great diffences in colour, depending on the origing of the basalt that is frequently used.

In general, however, I think that the tone of the M* C-track is perhaps a little bit too dark, and the rails themselves are not black but have a rusty brown colour. I have lived many years in the neighbourhood of real tracks. The ballast used there was made of from basalt with a definitely grey colour, but there are also light brown coloured tracks elsewhere.

It also depends on the era you want to model on your layout. Today (era 5) everything looks very "clean", i.e. closer to its natural colour. This is because of elevated environment standards and the shutdown of large parts of steel production. In the late 60s and 70s I remember well that the tracks in the industrial regions really had that dark brown C-tracks colour, and everything else arround, too: locos, cars, streets, houses, trees, and sometimes also air.

Regards

Hans Martin
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Offline Sam  
#6 Posted : 11 March 2005 18:16:55(UTC)
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Sam


Joined: 04/02/2002(UTC)
Posts: 799
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Alberto, so is that stuff applied with glue? or you just sprinkle it on the side of the track... seems like it would easily make a mess, or does it stay still where you place it?
Era I-V / HO & 1 Gauge / C-Track & Mobil Station, with Central Station.
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Offline Munich 1860  
#7 Posted : 11 March 2005 20:58:46(UTC)
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Munich 1860

Germany   
Joined: 04/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 1,062
Location: Neu-Ulm, Bavaria
Hello Luis and all,

and sorry Sam, I hope your question won't go missing .... I agree with the above posts, but some things still could be added.

In Fürstenfeldbruck for instance, there is forest on one side of the track, and open farmland on the other. The effect is, that leafs from the trees darken the appearance on one side of the track, leaving the other side a bit lighter. Funny, I saw all the leafs on one half of the track, blown there by the wind, the other half empty. Why I tell you this ?? Because I once saw a model railroad built to this effect, and you could virtually not see the pukos/ studs at all.

Basically at the station where I grew up (Lower Bavaria) the colour was very dark, sometimes even black from the coal. The shunting area, where a lot of beet transport was done, was all shades of brown, also very light brown / clay, from the farmers' tractors. There was no grass growing between shunting tracks, as can be seen in abundance nowadays.

Johann
I like M-track and my things that run on it were built between 1959 and 1972.
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Offline Alberto Pedrini  
#8 Posted : 11 March 2005 23:34:36(UTC)
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Alberto Pedrini

Italy   
Joined: 02/07/2004(UTC)
Posts: 1,448
Location: Italy
Quote:
[size=1" face="Verdana" id="quote]quote:Originally posted by Sam
<br />Alberto, so is that stuff applied with glue? or you just sprinkle it on the side of the track... seems like it would easily make a mess, or does it stay still where you place it?

Sorry for the image, but today the server where I put it is down every two hours...
The ballast in the pic is only sprinked, certainly for a fix layout is better to glue it, and weather with rust color too, but for Christmas layout or similar is good like this, of course is better have a rough table under the tracks.
bye
Alberto

Marklinfan Club Italia
www.marklinfan.net
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Offline McLae  
#9 Posted : 14 March 2005 00:46:56(UTC)
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McLae


Joined: 16/07/2002(UTC)
Posts: 1,575
Location: DeSoto (Dallas area), TX
There was a thread several years ago about weathering C-track. I actually painted two track sectons, and had good results. On my visible sections of the new layout, I plan (HA[:o)]) to paint all the track, and to color the sleepers (Cross ties) a contrasting color. biggrin
I used regular DecoArt paint (water based acrylic).

For balast color, see this Pic from The Railfaneurope.net Picture Gallery:
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pi...020_044-041-1044_095.jpg
Notice that there are two main colors, black, and light brown.
The McLae
IB digital, DB, OBB, SBB epII-V
Providing a home for little lost 'Gators
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Offline steventrain  
#10 Posted : 01 April 2005 21:07:15(UTC)
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steventrain

United Kingdom   
Joined: 21/10/2004(UTC)
Posts: 31,704
Location: United Kingdom
Great pictureSmile
Large Marklinist 3- Rails Layout with CS2/MS2/Boosters/C-track/favorites Electric class E03/BR103, E18/E118, E94, Crocodiles/Steam BR01, BR03, BR05, BR23, BR44, BR50, Big Boy.
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