Smith & Son Ballast

[chicken45]

Anybody willing to do a similar comparo between S&S ballast vs ARM?  Wonder if it's similar.

@chicken45 , IMHO the ARM is closer to the newer/cleaned mainline ballast in this image than Gary's.

Didn't ARM go out of business?

[Lemosteam]

Not that I am aware of- their homepage has a 2018 copyright and their last FB post was 1/8 at https://www.facebook.com/rrscenery/

I am still curious how they compare though, texture wise.

[wazzou]

Here is the only shot I have handy of a custom mixed by me AR&M Ballast Blend.

[ridinshotgun]

Didn't ARM go out of business?

Nope.  Just ordered a few pounds of ballast last week and got it a few days.

[chicken45]

Left: PennOhio             Right: ARM PRR Light Blend, not glued









This is the PennOhio by itself.

[Chris333]

Penn-Ohio on my layout

[chicken45]

Penn-Ohio on my layout

It looks so much lighter!
I wonder if @sizemore did some weathing to the ballast.

[Chris333]

It could just be my crazy bright lighting.

[GaryHinshaw]

A few comments:

* On the darkening: here is a shot I posted in @C855B 's layout engineering thread a while back:



I glue my ballast in 2 steps and the shot shows the results after the first gluing (left) and second gluing (right).  The Penn-Ohio definitely darkens a bit with each gluing.  I'm guessing @Chris333 went with one glue pass and a fairly dilute matte medium?

* In looking at the Horseshoe Curve photo, it looks to me like a tannish grey.  I don't know S&S's full line, but they do have a Gray Limestone that looks pretty close to that PRR ballast.  Here is a shot that shows two S&S colours on my layout:



The bottom track is Penn-Ohio, the top two are Gray Limestone (with some soot weathering between the rails).  The Gray seems like a pretty nice match to the proto photo.

* I have nothing against AZRM, but the sample in @chicken45 's photo looks too much like salt & pepper for my taste.   They do offer a ton of colours, but it is hard to get a good read on them from their web site photos.   The main reason I went with S&S is because I saw it in person (and purchased it) at a Timonium show years ago, and I really liked it.   Having already ballasted half a layout with it, I wanted to finish with matching stock, so I tracked down Dale.

* It would be great if someone started an AZRM thread with high-quality photos of their ballast for those of us who want to get a better sense of their line.

[chicken45]

I'm looking for suggestions on how much ballast I need for my layout.
It's basically a code 55 version of the Juniata Division. 

[Dave V]

I'm looking for suggestions on how much ballast I need for my layout.
It's basically a code 55 version of the Juniata Division.

Dunno.  I had one of the big shaker jars of WS gray blend back in the day.  Don't recall how much I used.

[sizemore]

I used alcohol to get the first wet without clumping the ballast, then water, then diluted white glue. Its most likely the glue darkening the ballast.

HTH,
The S.

[SP-Wolf]

I used ARM #138 CSX/Southern Pacific/Wabash gray. To "wet" it, I used water with a few drops of dish soap. Then I used 50/50 matt medium/water with a few drops of dish soap. Man is it tough -- the old bright boy has slipped and scraped along the ballast -- no harm done.



Wolf

[chicken45]

A few comments:




I glue my ballast in 2 steps and the shot shows the results after the first gluing (left) and second gluing (right).  The Penn-Ohio definitely darkens a bit with each gluing.  I'm guessing @Chris333 went with one glue pass and a fairly dilute matte medium?

* In looking at the Horseshoe Curve photo, it looks to me like a tannish grey.  I don't know S&S's full line, but they do have a Gray Limestone that looks pretty close to that PRR ballast.  Here is a shot that shows two S&S colours on my layout:



The bottom track is Penn-Ohio, the top two are Gray Limestone (with some soot weathering between the rails).  The Gray seems like a pretty nice match to the proto photo.

@GaryHinshaw is "Gray Limestone" the name for sure? I have been emailing the gentlemen (I think he only checks his email once per day in the evening) and mentioned a "Dark Limestone", but that it was darker than the PennOhio.

BTW, thank you for doing all this!

[GaryHinshaw]

Hi @chicken45 , I am sure the ballast I have is called Gray Limestone:



I purchased this from Scenic Express at a Timonium show nearly 10 years ago, so it's possible that S&S changed their naming conventions, and maybe even actual stock.  Feel free to send this photo to Dale in case it helps jog his memory. 

[To be clear, the ballast on the track is Penn-Ohio, but the ballast in the shaker is Gray Limestone.]