The recent thread about a hypothetical ballasting car that would
actually be able to work on a model railroad layout got me to thinking.
(Dangerous, I know.) Came up with an idea for such a piece of MOW
equipment, but then decided that it would really work better as a
hand-held tool (certainly not as operationally cool, but more effective).

See sketch athttp://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif.
(Note: this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually made one of these, so I have no frickin'
idea if it would actually work.

I envision this being made out of cardboard and glued together; the
inserts would seal off the slots that fit over the rail. (Of course, it
would be nicer in soldered sheet brass; that, however, is a bit beyond
my meager capabilities.) The size and shape of the openings would have
to be determined experimentally; one wants the ballast to flow freely,
but not *too* freely. And the side chutes could be angled down away from
the track for a prototypical profile.

So what do y'all think? Might work?

--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

On Oct 22, 9:28�pm, David Nebenzahl <nob... at (no spam) but.us.chickens> wrote:

The recent thread about a hypothetical ballasting car that would
actually be able to work on a model railroad layout got me to thinking.
(Dangerous, I know.) Came up with an idea for such a piece of MOW
equipment, but then decided that it would really work better as a
hand-held tool (certainly not as operationally cool, but more effective).

See sketch athttp://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif.
(Note: this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually made one of these, so I have no frickin'
idea if it would actually work.

I envision this being made out of cardboard and glued together; the
inserts would seal off the slots that fit over the rail. (Of course, it
would be nicer in soldered sheet brass; that, however, is a bit beyond
my meager capabilities.) The size and shape of the openings would have
to be determined experimentally; one wants the ballast to flow freely,
but not *too* freely. And the side chutes could be angled down away from
the track for a prototypical profile.

So what do y'all think? Might work?

I remember seeing an advertisement for a plexiglass tube with slots
cut in the bottom for the rails, designed for spreading ballast. Did
you see it?

The recent thread about a hypothetical ballasting car that would
actually be able to work on a model railroad layout got me to
thinking. (Dangerous, I know.) Came up with an idea for such a piece
of MOW equipment, but then decided that it would really work better as
a hand-held tool (certainly not as operationally cool, but more
effective).

See sketch at
http://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif. (Note: this
URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls the plug
on GeoCities.)

DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually made one of these, so I have no
frickin' idea if it would actually work.

I envision this being made out of cardboard and glued together; the
inserts would seal off the slots that fit over the rail. (Of course,
it would be nicer in soldered sheet brass; that, however, is a bit
beyond my meager capabilities.) The size and shape of the openings
would have to be determined experimentally; one wants the ballast to
flow freely, but not *too* freely. And the side chutes could be angled
down away from the track for a prototypical profile.

So what do y'all think? Might work?

On Oct 22, 9:28�pm, David Nebenzahl <nob... at (no spam) but.us.chickens> wrote:
The recent thread about a hypothetical ballasting car that would
actually be able to work on a model railroad layout got me to thinking.
(Dangerous, I know.) Came up with an idea for such a piece of MOW
equipment, but then decided that it would really work better as a
hand-held tool (certainly not as operationally cool, but more effective).

See sketch athttp://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif.
(Note: this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually made one of these, so I have no frickin'
idea if it would actually work.

I envision this being made out of cardboard and glued together; the
inserts would seal off the slots that fit over the rail. (Of course, it
would be nicer in soldered sheet brass; that, however, is a bit beyond
my meager capabilities.) The size and shape of the openings would have
to be determined experimentally; one wants the ballast to flow freely,
but not *too* freely. And the side chutes could be angled down away from
the track for a prototypical profile.

So what do y'all think? Might work?

--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

I remember seeing an advertisement for a plexiglass tube with slots
cut in the bottom for the rails, designed for spreading ballast. Did
you see it?

The recent thread about a hypothetical ballasting car that would
actually be able to work on a model railroad layout got me to thinking.
(Dangerous, I know.) Came up with an idea for such a piece of MOW
equipment, but then decided that it would really work better as a
hand-held tool (certainly not as operationally cool, but more effective).

See sketch at http://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif.
(Note: this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually made one of these, so I have no frickin'
idea if it would actually work.

I envision this being made out of cardboard and glued together; the
inserts would seal off the slots that fit over the rail. (Of course, it
would be nicer in soldered sheet brass; that, however, is a bit beyond
my meager capabilities.) The size and shape of the openings would have
to be determined experimentally; one wants the ballast to flow freely,
but not *too* freely. And the side chutes could be angled down away from
the track for a prototypical profile.

So what do y'all think? Might work?

On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:28:17 -0700, David Nebenzahl
nobody at (no spam) but.us.chickens> wrote:

The recent thread about a hypothetical ballasting car that would
actually be able to work on a model railroad layout got me to
thinking. (Dangerous, I know.) Came up with an idea for such a
piece of MOW equipment, but then decided that it would really
work better as a hand-held tool (certainly not as operationally
cool, but more effective).

See sketch at
http://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif. (Note:
this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

I seem to remember a whole bunch of years ago in one of the model
magazines an article on how to convert a round Old Spice deodorant
stick applicator into a ballast too that looked similar to what you
are trying to do. You would cut slots in the bottom to match your
gauge rail and then just file it up with ballast and run it along the
track. Never tried it so can't comment on how well it worked, but
sounded pretty good. Now if you can only find an Old Spice container
that is round instead of those damn oval sized thingies!

I have one made of dark grey ABS. I can't recall the manufacturer's
(there's no brand on it), but it works well enough.

Forgive me for posting a binary to this group, but I will follow this
posting with one with a 75 dpi scan (18k in size) to jog memories.

Wolf K (wekirch at (no spam) sympatico.ca) said...

I have one made of dark grey ABS. I can't recall the manufacturer's
(there's no brand on it), but it works well enough.

I believe you are thinking of an item made by MLR Manufacturing.

I recalled this from the 80s and went through my back issues of MR and
found their last ad in the June 1986 issue.

See sketch at http://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif.
(Note: this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

I envision this being made out of cardboard and glued together; the
inserts would seal off the slots that fit over the rail. (Of course, it
would be nicer in soldered sheet brass; that, however, is a bit beyond
my meager capabilities.) The size and shape of the openings would have
to be determined experimentally; one wants the ballast to flow freely,
but not *too* freely. And the side chutes could be angled down away from
the track for a prototypical profile.

Forgive me for posting a binary to this group, but I will follow this
posting with one with a 75 dpi scan (18k in size) to jog memories.

David Nebenzahl <nobody at (no spam) but.us.chickens> writes:

See sketch at
http://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif. (Note:
this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls
the plug on GeoCities.)

Well, crap, way to put something up with a limited lifespan.

If I get what you're talking about from lack of picture, I don't see why it
wouldn't work, but I'm not sure it would be that much better it would be
than simply using a paper funnel and smoothing it out with a piece of card
stock.

Also note - soldering sheet brass is easy if you're not trying to make it
look like artwork. All you need is heat - it's easier than electrical
soldering actually. Give it a try sometime. *

On 10/27/2009 12:01 PM PV spake thus:

David Nebenzahl <nobody at (no spam) but.us.chickens> writes:

See sketch at
http://www.geocities.com/bonezphoto/models/Ballaster.gif. (Note:
this URL will cease to work after 10/26 when Yahoo! finally pulls the
plug on GeoCities.)

Well, crap, way to put something up with a limited lifespan.

Not to worry: it's still there. Turns out that Oct. 26th wasn't the
"drop dead" date that Yahoo! had intimated: all the Geoshitties stuff is
still up there. They're in a transition phase where people are
redirecting their pages to new URLs.

On 10/27/2009 12:04 PM PV spake thus:

Calvin Henry-Cotnam <calvin at (no spam) remove.daxack.ca.invalid> writes:
Forgive me for posting a binary to this group, but I will follow this
posting with one with a 75 dpi scan (18k in size) to jog memories.

It's not a matter of forgive - there's hardly a usenet provider on earth
that won't either drop the binary part of cancel your post entirely if you
put a binary in a non-binary group. Don't even try - nobody will see it. *

Not true (at least in most cases): see attached (small) .gif. Do you see
it? There's nothing magic about "non-binary" Usenet groups; most servers
don't care about the difference (although the ISP may well simply decide
not to carry any binary groups).