Gray Blend Medium Ballast Shaker

A medium grain in a blended gray

This version joins the two things that are looked for most often in practice: a grain size usable almost everywhere and the unevenness of color that every real line has. The stone in ballast comes from different deliveries, it has lain there for different lengths of time and has aged differently, and that is exactly what a single-color scatter cannot do.

An overview of the parameters

• A medium grade, the grain size used most commonly
• Grains in several gray tones at once
• A shaker with a content of 945 cm³ and a dispensing sieve
• Suitable for a main line as well as for secondary tracks
• It takes further work with paint, but it does not call for it

While spreading it helps to shake the shaker lightly, so that the shades are mixed evenly. If the material has stood for a long time, the heavier and lighter grains tend to settle separately and the first dose then comes out more uniform than the last.

Anyone building a longer stretch of line over several sittings should watch for the same procedure. A difference in the thinning of the glue or in the thickness of the layer shows on a finished surface more than a difference between the individual shades of grain does, and it can be put right only with another spreading.

At the edges of an embankment it proves itself to thin the grains out gradually instead of ending them sharply. A few single stones sunk into the grass make a transition the viewer believes, without noticing that there is one at all.

In tunnels and under the arches of bridges, spread with thought. The clearance for passage tends to be tight and a layer added here on top is recognized only at the moment when the underside of the first car passing catches on it.