A local landscape supplier, only 1 km from the railway, was able to supply 10-12 mm cracked pea gravel, and delivered 3 cu.m inside our front gate. We chose the brown gravel as it would blend in better with the garden landscaping. Unlike normal pea gravel which is round, the cracked pea gravel is angular and would pack down nicely.
The first ballast was applied by hand, using a 4-wheeled garden cart to transport the ballast to the work site.
Ballasting going well but tedious.
It did rain a lot in June.
Then, we made a ballast wagon based on a large plastic flower pot. It runs on 40 mm diameter 3D-printed plastic wheels, and the frame is made from timber left over from the track pallets.
Two metal sliders release the ballast through 3 openings, one between the rails and one either side of the rails. It works surprisingly well with no ballast on the rails themselves to derail the wagon. A garden broom levelled the ballast to finish the job.
Note that the track is lifted up here on timber blocks to achieve a 1 in 50 ascending gradient. As a result, deeper ballast was required here compared to the typical 50 mm depth.
Update: When the loco arrived, the ballast wagon was fitted with basic couplers so it could be hauled by the loco. Later still, it was fitted with metal bolsters so it could ride on a pair of DNC arch-bogies when required for ballasting duties.
To improve access to the ballast pile, the track which is intended to curve to the left near the driveway was temporarily relayed curving to the right.
With use of the ballast wagon, the first section of track alongside the driveway is looking pretty good. No rollingstock at this stage, other than the hand-propelled ballast wagon.
