RUBBER BALLAST AND COAL LOADS
Manufacturer: Garden Railway Company, 2008 Madison Road, Cincinnati, OH 45208. Price: Tan or gray ballast $15.00 per 5 pound bag. Black coal load, coal dust, or oxide red iron ore dust $12.00 per 5 pound bag. Orders over 50 pounds deduct 10-percent.
WHAT? RUBBER BALLAST? Yes. To quote from Garden Railway Company's literature, it has advantages: "Ballast and material loads made of crushed stone or shell are both dusty and abrasive. Now there is an alternative.... [Our rubber ballast and coal loads are] very light weight, dust free, non-magnetic, latex gluable, non-abrasive, and as realistic as any crushed product on the market today. Load your hoppers without greatly increasing weight or settling for a plastic load. One 5 pound bag will ballast 15 to 20 feet of LGB track or 25 to 30 feet of O Gauge track."
Outdoor Railroader has plagiarized the above quotation because it accurately describes the attributes and benefits of the product. But we must also point out a characteristic common to any artificial scenery material: Its appearance is a little too homogeneous and perfect to pass for actual ballast, iron ore dust, or coal. Real minerals have a slightly more mottled appearance and vary more in color. For example, real coal has a slight glitter largely absent in chunks of black rubber.
For that reason, many indoor modelers working in the smaller scales mix some real dirt, coal, or sand with artificial scenery materials to create the best of both worlds. We large scale modelers may now do the same thing, using Garden Railway Company's high quality ballast and mineral loads as a starting point. The results should be impressive.
The largest rubber chunks seem to make the coal or ballast most suitable to 1:20 scale; you should sift them out if you model in 1:22.5, 1:24, 1:29, 1:32, or 1:48. Then scatter the large pieces around to help tie your scenic elements together.
The quality of the product is quite good, its appearance is also good, and it is certainly more pleasant to work with than dirt. When you are ready to add the next dimension to your diorama's landscape or to your hopper loads, Garden Railway Company's ballast, coal, and mineral loads deserve a close look.-RR
