Friends, many of you were kind enough to respond
to my inquiries as to ballasts on the Milwaukee
and CB&Q railroads, in addition to my more
specific request for information on the color and
texture of "slag ballast". Information rolled in
on the former (Thank You!), but responses to the
latter- although all very informative- were in
the end largely inconclusive and contradictory.
I did learn that slag ballast (almost exclusive
from the steel and iron industry) was considered
a premium product at least right up to at least
the mid '50s, very light weight and porous,
commonly and cheaply available in steel producing
regions, and no longer in common use because it
collapses under current heavy haul conditions
(and there are few steel mills still extant).
Although I have b&w photos showing pristine
ballast prisms laid with slag, there was no where
where the color or expected hue of the ballast
was described or inferred (except that it was
distinctly lighter in hue than the surrounding
ground.
At this point, Jim Singer in Chicago steps on
stage and offers to dig out some CB&Q (Aurora
main line) slag ballast discarded and pushed
over the bank near Riverside some years ago. With
his trusty geologists' hammer he braved 10º
weather to first dig some slag ballast out of the
frozen earth, and then Priority Mail it to me
(received yesterday). He also included some
adjacent current rock ballast (presumably local
limestone) for comparison.
Characteristics of a piece of slag ballast (1"-2" in OA size:
Slag is very porous, almost identical in this
regard to many lava rocks that are commonly seen
locally for landscape purposes. The surface is
generally smoother, however, perhaps the result
of abrasion in handling and use.
The shape is irregular and angular in outline
(like crushed rock) but with soft rounded-off
corners and edges (unlike crushed rock).
The color of the very dirty ballast as received
was a distinct brownish gray- in this regard
little different from the rock ballast included.
I put several pieces in the dishwasher (by
serendipity in the unaccustomed high company of
my wife's fine bone china and Waterford stemware
from a ladies' party). This washing in fact
changed the color very little (that is TENACIOUS
dirt!), and so the slag piece was sent to the
crusher in my garage (hammer and chisel on
steel), where it was first split, and then one
half was then reduced further to something this
side of dust- exposing the the slag's true color.
The face of the exposed 1/2 intact split slag
piece had a very distinct bluish medium gray hue,
with some hints of black specks. No red or brown.
The other half of the piece crushed very easily
(almost too easily because some became close to
powder very quick). The crushed slag had a
slightly more brownish/yellowish tinge to the
main gray- largely because I could not first
separate out the dirty brown surface.
So, the question of slag ballast color is
answered: a medium gray with bluish hues when
new. As if to confirm this, a bottle of Smith &
Sons #50 Slag Ballast (fine) arrived from Scenic
Express- the only named slag ballast that I could
find on the market. A casual comparison shows
that the S&Ss product is almost right on!
Dirty slag ballast is a distinct brown/gray, and
in this regard cannot be differentiated from rock
ballast. I have a feeling that a good deal of
this "brown" primarily resulted from years of
brake shoe "dust" added to brine from ice reefers
and various dripping lubricants, etc.
I will be taking some photos, and will post same if there is interest.
More than you want to know.
Denny
--
Denny S. Anspach, MD
Sacramento
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