Which brand and color of ballast for NH track?

[OldEastRR]

Tho I've always been down on ballasting since my first disastrous failures in the early '70s, once I get the ground, waterways,  buildimgs. roads, sidewalks and drives, grade crossings, embankments, foliage, vehicles, and other scenic elements in place on the layout, that bare unballasted track and roadbed are hard to ignore, even if rails and roadbed are painted. However, I don't know what color ballast the NH used, tho I can see it in color photographs. Sorta brown? Which company's product comes closest?

[bbussey]

Woodland Scenics, Gray Blend.

[robert3985]

Tho I've always been down on ballasting since my first disastrous failures in the early '70s, once I get the ground, waterways,  buildimgs. roads, sidewalks and drives, grade crossings, embankments, foliage, vehicles, and other scenic elements in place on the layout, that bare unballasted track and roadbed are hard to ignore, even if rails and roadbed are painted. However, I don't know what color ballast the NH used, tho I can see it in color photographs. Sorta brown? Which company's product comes closest?

Gotta remember that prototype ballast weathers up after a while, so there's a big difference between ballast that's been in place for a few years and ballast that's just recently been applied.  The "fresh" ballast color and mix...my UP Weber/Echo Canyons ballast is a mix of five different colors of rocks...looks very "rocky" with the individual colors of stones easily seen.  However, after a few years, dust, grime, soot, metal dust and weed killer combine to give older track a definite reddish color in the location I model.  This is more dense near the middle of the ties and fades out pretty quickly with just a touch on either side of the ballast slopes.

So, if you've got color photos...good color photos...and maybe a LHS where you can actually look at the different colors of ballast available, maybe you can find a single color of ballast that works.  Most likely, you're going to have to do a "mix" to get it right if that's important to you.  The brand that I recommend is Arizona Rock & Mineral, even though I use my stock of Highball Real-Rock Ballast.  For customers' modules and layouts, I've used AR&M ballast, after I've sifted it through a fine strainer to get rid of excess dust for several different colors of ballast, and I am quite happy with the results.

On the other hand, I've used Woodland Scenics ballast also...back when it was definitely NOT made of actual stone, and although I don't recommend the brand (unless they've finally decided to go with real-rock) the end results looked pretty good, if not a bit monotonous since I didn't blend it (at the customer's request) like I would do for my own use.

Also, in my ballast research, I've noticed that often real railroads use different rock blends from different quarries for different applications, such as for mainlines, for branchlines, for sidings, for industrial spurs, and for yards.  For my use, I use "cinders" for the branchline yard and main, and my five-color grey blend for my UP mainlines...then, after I'm happy with the glued-down results, I weather the track-ties-ballast combination according to prototype photos I've taken of the area I'm modeling.

One thing that you should be aware of is that sometimes, the ballast gets darker after you do the usual soaking & applying ballast cement to it.  In my case, this was on a customer's layout, and although he didn't mind it, I did, so on future projects if I needed a specific color of ballast, I would do a small "sample" of a particular mix to see if it got really noticeably darker...then I lighten it up with lighter shades of ballast before proceeding to the actual layout.

One thing I do to relieve the concentration required to get my ballast into the shape and neatness that I require for 1950's UP mainline trackage, is I only do three or four feet a day...maybe at the most six feet if it's just simple mainline or simple, flat yard trackage.  Although I don't mind ballasting...I enjoy the "zen" of it...it definitely IS tedious, so only doing a morning's worth or afternoon's worth, then coming back to it later, has been a good practice for me.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[OldEastRR]

I've got a bag of Highball Dark Gray. Will that do?

[bbussey]

I don't know, I've never seen or used Highball, but any dark gray hue is too dark.  Woodland Scenics gray blend is a good match for photos of NH mainline trackage in various literature and publications.  For new ballast (where repairs have been made) use light gray.  Brown-colored ballast is not correct for NH no matter how dirty you wish to represent the right-of-way.  NH kept the mainline pristine even during periods of bankruptcy.

Use cinders for yards and industrial sidings.