1/25 ballast?

[NULLMOON]

due to the large number of armored train/mbv/drasine etc models i have its going to be nessacery to build alot of 1/25 track sections/dioramas so i have a couple of qestions
does anyone know of anything that can be used as ballast ive looked around several aqaruium shops the closest thing is coral sand which is too organic looking it needs to be pale colored and angular(not rounded) any ideas?
is there anywere that sells 1/25 track ive made a few of the kit lengths its fairly easy but im gonna need alot of them failing that ill scan some of the kit tracks (not every kit comes with)
how do you simulate frost? one of the kits has a painting on the cover of the vehicle in a frosty late autum scene i woul like to try and replicate that if possible
everything else is pretty simple i already have wood for sleepers,grass,twigs etc

[Kevinkrey]

Im from the model railroading forum, so I might be able to help with the ballast, my idea would be to use whatever you can find and paint it, an airbrush works best. Many model railroaders paint their ballast to weather it and simulate oil and grease that has leaked from locomotives.

[shrike]

Don't overlook humble clay (cheap) kitty litter. It can be sieved and graded to size, crushed for 'fines' and dusts, and it will certainly absorb watercolours, paints and glues to finish it off.

A dollar or two will get you enough to do a scale mile of track, or clean up that oil spill in the driveway

[NULLMOON]

didnt think of that im going over a few railway modeling sites at the moment budgie grit seems to look about right too i got to make a load of these curly jobs too i forgot those

[shrike]

Don't forget that track laying practices vary a lot form location to location.
Looking at the photo I see a granite sleeper with the curly clip thing. You would never find such a thing in North America. At least not on any major line. Wood and spikes here (even though the spikes are now driven by gigantic nail guns rather than hand)
What was the standard practice in central and eastern europe where Drasines and other armoured trains roamed the land?

[NULLMOON]

from what i can tell russian tracks of the era were very changable the sleepers in the second photo look like logs! the tracks are all held down by wedges with spikes driven into the sleeper the curly things are a british thing only it seems there dosent even seem to be any obvious ballast in the first pic just tightly laid sleepers in many of the pictures of trains/mbvs only the track itself is visable looking very much like the first picture
the polish/german tracks are much more uniform with heavy sleepers on ballast and the wedges to hold the tracks
ive just realised that my pp-52 pilsudczyk is gonna need a dirorama 400cms long