Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

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Atkinson_Railroad
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Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by Atkinson_Railroad »

For those of you following the price of lumber and steel, I'll fill in an additional blank for miniature railroading costs.

From this time last year, the cost for crushed stone has increased approximately 40 percent.

$37.00 a yard last Spring to $48.00 a yard "today"--- April, 2021

Maintaining a [past time] and avocation is not for the faint-of-heart.

I'm gonna be looking for a handhold to grip when I learn how much new batteries will cost.

Here's to a love for Miniature Railroading.

John
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

And we thought inflation wasn't here yet!
Shape steel is up more than 2x what it was back in March 2020. Scrap metal cost is going the same way. If you see that price go up much more, you'll start seeing a lot more people stealing scrap and stuff again. It was pretty bad around here when scrap prices were really high about 10-11 years ago. Who knows what's next.
rkcarguy
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by rkcarguy »

I work in the steel/fabrication industry.
Laser quality plate was $0.45/#, by the truckload. Now $1.19/#
Wide-Flange Beams were $0.48 -$0.56/#. Now $0.74/#
Tube Steel was $0.63/#. Now $1.04 - $1.19/#.

40% of our work backlog was cancelled due to now being over-budget from excessive materials escalation.

Worse yet, we are being quoted October deliveries for thinner gage metals, and they will not hold any price (you basically pay want they want when it's rolled and ready to pickup from the mill floor).

I agree with Pontiacguy1, repeat of 2007-2010 is on the way, recession, metals theft, and all.
SCBryan
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by SCBryan »

How can this be? The government has told us we don't have inflation.
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Atkinson_Railroad
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by Atkinson_Railroad »

One of the "things" about railroad track ballast is it's not practical to take it with you when you move to another location.
So there's no redeeming value to it except the very important function it serves... for lack of a better explanation.

I'm not comparing apples-to-apples in the following because each location has its own situation such as how far away one is located
from the vendor, the actual description or technical type or size of the product delivered... 6A, 6AA etc.

"But", 29 years ago, I spent $202.80 for 10 yards of stone. Seven years later, I spent $220.00 for 10 yards of stone.
This is not a very marked increase for the amount of time that elapsed between purchases.

The examples attached are not from the same source, and I was located at different addresses when the purchases were made.

Today was just a shocker for me I guess.

And there was nothing I could do about it... but pay up, or go without track ballast... which was not an option either.

At any rate, I asked the nice lady at the window to fill the dump truck up as far as allowed and purchased 12 yards based
on their truck capacity limit. It's a nice pile of stone, and I'll be busy all year long enjoying working on my railroad... but "Sheeesssh!"

The cost of Miniature Railroading has always been an expenditure greater than many other activities.
As of today though, I am apprehensively acknowledging the hobby has now entered a new chapter that the lady at the window emphasized,
"..We live in a different world now."

Signed,

John
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April 19, 2021
April 19, 2021
RONALD
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by RONALD »

On 22 July 2020 I ordered 3 loads of CM-6 Virgin Grade 9 Road Gravel from LAFARGE North America.

It was $13.50 a ton, but shipping out of their Algonquin Pit added $4.83 per ton.

Sales tax was about $75 for 3 loads.

Total was $1353.06 for 69.83 tons = $19.38 per ton.

Back in 24 Oct 2016 it was going for $13 per ton, but shipping was $5.90 per ton.

I have never totaled the tons I bought over the years, but as they said above, ballast is a necessary expense.

I have other uses for Grade 9 such as driveway, walkway, and foundation filling, but it mainly is used in track work.
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We also bought some Quartzite stone for topping, that was around 2002 or so, turned out it does not have the staying ability of the Grade 9, it sorta disappeared into the Grade 9 in a few years; most of that one load is still piled in the same place, maybe it will eventually be distributed. It was much more expensive, but more prototype for us.
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benshell
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by benshell »

Anyone here ever tried sifting your own rock? I’m thinking trying, as in the Missouri Ozarks I’m on mostly rock! Building a rig for sifting doesn’t sound too hard in theory, but practically speaking it does sound tedious and might not be worth it.
Ben Shell
rkcarguy
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by rkcarguy »

I asked for updated pricing from our local cement and gravel company:

"The ¾” Drain rock is $17.50 per ton, ¾” minus crushed is $18.00 per ton, ¾” Clear crushed is $20.00 ton, 4” minus recycled concrete is $13.75 per ton, and Pit Run is $11.75 a ton. This is delivered via full truck and/or transfer, so about 15-35 tons worth for this pricing."
I could see where if you are only ordering a few yards, that it could be $50/yard mainly to cover delivery costs.
RONALD
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by RONALD »

I would not touch recycled concrete.

We tried a load about ten years ago because it was much cheaper than the Grade 9 we were using.

A short time after, during a heavy rain it all washed out, had to rebuild that whole section.

When filling for a basement floor it may work fine, but it did not work for us.
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rkcarguy
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by rkcarguy »

I only use the recycled concrete for sub grade work, for example I had an area at the end of my driveway that kept eating gravel and filling it with recycled concrete put an end to that. It's mostly bigger pieces like 2-4" chunks from our local vendor, I agree smaller pieces would wash away easily as they aren't as heavy as rock. I'm doing driveway work, landscaping, drain, and RR work at my property soon so I had our vendor quote a myriad of items for me, some surely not for use in our RR's.
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Atkinson_Railroad
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by Atkinson_Railroad »

Root Cause Analysis has been a subject I've long enjoyed.
Yes, to say "I think", means you really don't know.

Looking at the photos of the ballast failure posted by RONALD, I'd blame the washout on the original decision to place the miniature railroad
alignment in its location to begin with. The chosen aggregate had nothing to do with the washout.

The route was not studied and raised enough to survive a possible catastrophic event.
I don't think this, I know this.

Water washes away a lot of stuff... If you place something in waters way, water will wash it away.
That's exactly what happened in the failure shown. It had nothing to do with the chosen aggregate.

John ; )
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Atkinson_Railroad
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Re: Ballast / Crushed Stone Pricing is up, uP, UP

Post by Atkinson_Railroad »

In other news,

I am quite pleased with my wheel borrow ballast transport... for lack of a better description.
It's not WiFi connected, GPS tracked, or available for down load... but it does serve a very helpful purpose.

It works!

It involves having to use a shovel. It also means you feel better after using it.

It rolls so smooth...

The coast... down the line is seemless.

John huffs and puffs.

Have a great season building your own railroad!

John
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