Ballast

[station master]

Morning gents, been doing some looking at some of the images the community has been posting and looking towards eventually what to do about ballasting the track, to be honest I am quiet a mind changer and move or alter track a lot, can never make my mind up what looks good lol, so is there anything that can be put down on the boards to simulate balllasted track rather than go through the process of actually ballasting track?

Was wondering is there like a mat or such that the track can sit on to give the impression of being done, or am wrong

[Walkingthedog]

If you tend to regularly change things I would suggest you just lay the track straight on the board and not bother with ballast or just ballast parts that aren’t going to be moved.
I glue ballast down with a very weak water/pva mix, 80/20 ish. Then it doesn’t dry like concrete, more like toffee, and can be removed easily.

[Brian]

Hi Javis produce "Ballast rolls" i.e. a sheet of pre ballasted material that you simply cut to size and place under the track then pin the track down. There are probably other makes available too?
Then there is Foam inlay which is supposed to represent the ballast shoulder and ballast under the track. Careful choice is needed here, as some foams begin to crumble quite early in their life!
Otherwise, as suggested by WTD, using real stone or another medium to represent ballast. There is plenty of choice in 'sprinkle on' and glue down ballast.

[Steve M]

As has been said, it's not that difficult to change things after ballasting and, imho, substitutes are never going to look right.
Here's one I changed earlier - originally ballasted about four years ago.

[station master]

Thanks all, looks possible will just have to make my mind up a stick to it for a while................