Cheap ballast alternative?

[M. Matthews]

Just a quick one. I came across these stones in “The Range”. Looks like a fairly cheap way to ballast at £4.99 for 2.2kg! What over cheaper ways have people found to ballast?

[96RAF]

Cheaper than ‘specialist’ model railway shop ballast, but still over-priced for what is essentially a scoop of sharp sand that you could get in a big bag at a builders merchant or garden centre or dare I say it - for free from your local beach.

[Ducking Giraffe]

Excellent marketing, in my day "beach stone granules" were called "sand"....

But having said that, if they're the right colour I might have a look. Need to be a consistent size though?

[Topcat1707821625]

I would be dubious about using sand as ballast because of its abrasive qualities. You wouldn't want it getting into the works of locos.

The same comment was made in another post about coal when I suggested using real coal.

[Brew Man]

Re coal: I don't know what's wrong with the plastic stuff from model shops. Looks pretty convincing to me. Ballast I suppose is another matter as the quantity, and therefore the costs are much more than those used to fill a few wagons.

[threelink]

I use a mix of commercial "scale" ballast bought for a song at a toy fair, sand from the river Severn, sand from Aberyswyth beach, ash from the barbeque, coal dust, soot from an old railway tunnel and talcum powder nicked from Her Graces dressing table when she was not looking. The commercial ballast changes from grey to a nasty green hue when glued down with PVA so has to be painted, which rather defeats the object - perhaps that is why it was so cheap. Sand is no more abrasive than granite chippings but care is needed to vacuum up every last loose particle when the PVA has set.

[threelink]

I use a mix of commercial "scale" ballast bought for a song at a toy fair, sand from the river Severn, sand from Aberyswyth beach, ash from the barbeque, coal dust, soot from an old railway tunnel and talcum powder nicked from Her Graces dressing table when she was not looking. The commercial ballast changes from grey to a nasty green hue when glued down with PVA so has to be painted, which rather defeats the object - perhaps that is why it was so cheap. Sand is no more abrasive than granite chippings but care is needed to vacuum up every last loose particle when the PVA has set.