Shop Talk #4 - Train Tracks and Ballasting

Today we are talking about Lego trains and track! But mostly track... and actually, most what goes around the track... but TRAINS! I've been meaning to do this video for a long time because this was one of the biggest stumbling blocks I had when I started to actually put train track into my city.
As always, let me know in the comments if I missed something or need to clarify!
It's a bit of a long video, so here's some timestamps to help get to the part you need...
00:00 Intro
01:55 Standard Ballast in the City
03:07 Non-Standard Ballast in the City
04:50 Why Ballast?
08:30 Instructions Online
16:38 Straight Track Demo
24:13 Curved Track Demo
31:10 Curved Bed Demo
35:41 Closing Remarks
Link to L-Gauge Website and Guides:
l-gauge.org/wiki/index.php?tit...
l-gauge.org/wiki/index.php/Ref...
My name is Travis and I'm an AFOL! I've been serious collecting Lego since 2021. I collect a little bit of everything from Star Wars to Fabuland to Pirates to CMFs. My biggest continual project is my city. The city is currently about 112 baseplates and always in constant evolution. When I started out with the city it was 21 baseplates and I never imagined when I started it would grow to this size. My collection has quickly overtaken my office that I now call the Lego Room. My favorite themes are Vidiyo, Dreamzzz, CMFs, Pirates, and anything I can use in my city.
Come follow along on my Lego adventures! Make sure you subscribed to stay up to date and follow me on Instagram @_travis_bricks
#lego #legoaddict #legocity #legocityupdate #legovlog #trains #legotrains

[@boulevardbricks508]

The reason to ballast is to mimic real railroads - this is why L-gauge was created, as a way to "legitimize" model railroading using Lego. Folks who don't care so much about creating realistic railroads can save tons of $ by not doing it. I agree that the side benefit of being able to anchor the curves is nice! 👍Great job, and thanks for the video!

[@fulcan3rd]

Great info Travis! Thank you. Is that old grey you are hiding under that curved track!? I'll gladly send you new grey for all your old grey :). I've been meaning to plate up my whole winter village layout so this is going to help a lot with building that.

[@BrickMD]

Super helpful video. Thanks for the reference to that L Gauge site. Knew about it but no idea it was so extensive. Keep up the good work!

[@_travis_bricks]

Thank you!

[@GrumpyJ83]

I'm afraid to go down the rabbit hole with trains.. but I do like the way they look, when dome right.

[@_travis_bricks]

It’s not a cheap rabbit hole… I really want an emerald night and Santa Fe, but I just can’t pull the trigger on it at full retail…