Gray Fine Ballast Shaker

The shade everyone pictures under a line

Gray is the most widespread color of track ballast in the world, because the most frequently used raw material is granite, or else another hard igneous rock. The reason is not aesthetic but technical: the stone has to bear the repeated impacts from passing axles, it must not crush into dust and it must stay sharp-edged so that the grains wedge into one another. Softer rocks will not stand it, and that is why they get under main lines only exceptionally.

The grain decides how convincing it is

A real bed has a grain four to six centimeters across. Reduced to scale that means the grade of the material has to match the scale of the build, otherwise the result gives itself away instantly. The finest grade is therefore intended for the smaller scales, where coarser stone looks like rocks thrown in from a field. In the larger scales it suits as a supplementary layer that fills the gaps and unifies the surface.

Practical use

Besides a line, the gray material comes into its own as a load in an open wagon, as a heap at a transshipment point or as the surface of a made-up area by a shed. The sieve in the cap makes it possible to pour in a narrow trace, so the surroundings do not have to be cleaned. Once it has been evened out the layer is dampened and only then is thinned glue dripped into it, which runs even where a brush cannot reach. One thing should not be underestimated: before it dries, the remains of the stone have to be swept off the tops of the ties and off the foot of the rail, otherwise after fixing they will stay firmly where in reality they would not survive a single train under the wheels. The delivery does not include glue or track.