Late last night, I resumed ballasting in Ottawa. I managed to ballast all the way up to the Hwy 6 road crossing (this includes the main, siding and all the yard tracks). I still have to ballast the industry tracks though.
After ballasting quite a bit, I have developed a routine using paint brushes that seems to work for me.
1) I pour in a little ballast in between the rails and use a stiff paint brush (one that wasn't properly cleaned in the past) to really work the ballast in between the ties.
2) I then shake (back and forth parallel to the track) a cup of ballast on the outside of the rails.
3) I take my stiff paint brush to remove any ballast on the ties outside the rail gauge.
4) I use a thicker, very soft paint brush for gently sliding across the side profile of the ballast.
This seems to evenly spread the ballast without excessive build-up between the rails.
This morning I began gluing the ballast. I got about 2/3rds complete before having to leave for work. I believe once I complete the ballast work in Ottawa, I will start running some test trains through all the ballasted areas to ensure we don't have any issues.
I also completed creating/printing all the new car card labels. Now, to apply them to all the existing car cards.
Ballast Project update...
1) West Kelly Yard to East Kelly Yard Switch - Complete
2) East Kelly Yard Switch to Jarrett's Tunnel (2 1/2ft) -
3) Jarrett's Tunnel to East Rock Island - Complete
4) Farmer's Grain to West Bureau - Complete
5) West Bureau to Main Street (Bureau) (8ft) - in Progress
6) Peoria Branch (Washington Rd Crossing) to East Bureau Junction - Complete
7) East Bureau Junction to Utica - Complete
8) Utica to East Ottawa Bridge (18ft) - in Progress
9) Utica to BN Crossing in Ottawa (12ft) -
10) East Ottawa Bridge to JD Tower (Joliet) - Complete
11) JD Tower to Burr Oak Yard (Chicago) (21ft) -
* This doesn't include industrial track, Kelly yard or either staging yard.
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