Don,
What type of switches do you have? Three types are found on my
Shade Gap Railway; Parker Co., Aristocraft, and home-built. All are code
332 rail and all are ballasted the same as the rest of the Aristocraft
track with approximately 6" of #1 gravel from the quarry covered with #1A
gravel, the smallest I could get locally. Just keep the chicken grit out
of the points and you'll be fine.
This is our fifth season and minor aligning and reballasting has
been required each spring and we have significant freeze-thaw cycles here
in western New York state. The Aristo switches with plastic ties stay
down year 'round, the Parker Co and homebuilts are lifted yearly to stain
/ preserve the wood ties.
Have fun!
Tom
> A question to the list
>
> For those of you with track on the terra firma, how to you ballast
> around
> your turnouts? I've been thinking of putting the switch on top of a
> piece of
> Styrofoam cut to shape then adding chicken grit. The main trackage
> rest on a
> bed of gravel ballested with chicken grit.
>
> I want to make sure the switch stays level and is free to travel.
> I've read
> a number of article on ballasting track but none mention switches.
> Any good
> solutions?
>
> Don Plasterer
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