Ballast glue

[Martino]

I know there have been many posts asking how to hold ballast down. I always recommended diluting PVA glue as that worked perfectly for me on the South Bucks when in Florida. It coped with hurricanes, downpours - everything. It wasn’t that cheap though and had to be mixed.
This year I’ve become aware of what is being marketed as mulch glue or shingle glue. Not having a current outdoor railway, I haven’t tested it for that, but have got some to try on my mulch and garden rocks and gravel.
Just wondering if this may be a good ballast fix.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CQ...d_r=88a77b8a-683e-462c-ad37-6b15b58bf504&th=1

 

[JimmyB]

Asked the same question last year, if it outside SBR, it works really well:

Thread 'PVA vs SBR vs Easy Hold'

22 May 2024

As my railway expands along paving, and wanting to add ballast, as the rest of my railway is ballasted, thoughts turn to holding it in place, and I have seen all three of these (PVA vs SBR vs Easy Hold) used by different railway builders on here, so my questions are:

1) What are the differences between the products: i.e. pros and cons.
2) How is each of these used, e.g. neat, diluted, prayed etc.

Any help in aiding me to make my mind up would be appreciated.

I have visited a number of manufacturers' websites that produce both, and they provide very little insight, of it is over to you...

• JimmyB
• Replies: 8
• Forum: Help Required, I Give Up, Please Help Me...

 

[dunnyrail]

I know there have been many posts asking how to hold ballast down. I always recommended diluting PVA glue as that worked perfectly for me on the South Bucks when in Florida. It coped with hurricanes, downpours - everything. It wasn’t that cheap though and had to be mixed.
This year I’ve become aware of what is being marketed as mulch glue or shingle glue. Not having a current outdoor railway, I haven’t tested it for that, but have got some to try on my mulch and garden rocks and gravel.
Just wondering if this may be a good ballast fix.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CQKPGSDH/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&hsa_cr_id=0&qid=1780003601&sr=1-2-9e67e56a-6f64-441f-a281-df67fc737124&i=aps&aref=sksFbt9pMv&ref_=sbx__sbtcd_asin_1_img&pd_rd_w=Hdvf9&content-id=amzn1.sym.2fb72bc8-96ef-420d-b08f-c04b69f36507:amzn1.sym.2fb72bc8-96ef-420d-b08f-c04b69f36507&pf_rd_p=2fb72bc8-96ef-420d-b08f-c04b69f36507&pf_rd_r=KBDFR4QF5227JQ36PZF8&pd_rd_wg=4MlYl&pd_rd_r=88a77b8a-683e-462c-ad37-6b15b58bf504&th=1

Have you watched the vid? Not sure about the benefit of this compared to watered down PVA, cartainly they appear to show spraying which in an indoor environment not the best plan. I would certainly not follow their mux with ballast and use ootion. I would also imagine it will be much more costly than PVA which mixed with water 50/50 and a small dab of washing up liquid will come out less than half the cost of that. I use a container like this with some even smaller to pour the mix. Also I have recently dismantled a 00 layout using this method of glue, a wallpaper striper did the job of disassembly perfectly with all the track suitable saved and reusable.