Do you put bushes & grass inside track in yards & spurs etc.?

I did that on a couple spurs on my old layout.  Make sure that the vegetation is kept below rail level, out of the flangeways, and does not interfere with passing equipment..

Kevin

Any well traveled section of trackage will be clear of vegetation. While spurs and sidings are know to have varying stages of vegetation growing up between and around the rails, crossties. Depending on there usage. The only problem I see is that too much vegetation may cause a derailment. Other then that, it's your RR do as you like.

I do it on my ATSF railroad, just be careful and cautious.  Too much, too thick, too deep can play havoc with operations.  I even have a little stretch on a mainline (branch) that holds up pretty good and doesn't cause problems.

Bob

And don't forget to add some trash in there. Someone post a pic with bits of paper and other trash on his sidings and it made it look so much more real.

                                                                             Brent

You should take a trip to a local train yard and have a look around.  Take some pics and use it as an example while building. You'd be surprised how untidy train yards are when up close.

Grass and bushes are strictly prohibited in my yard.  Only cinders are allowed.

Rich

BATMAN

And don't forget to add some trash in there. Someone post a pic with bits of paper and other trash on his sidings and it made it look so much more real.

 

                                                                             Brent

Also (and I have seen this in the real world), sometimes a warehouse with multiple track-side doors (spots) will only use the first few door-spots regular - the remaining door-spots are used rarely if ever any more, and vegetation grows along that area - so, for example, a warehouse has 4 door-spots, the first two (closest to the switch from the main) will have boxcars (say) spotted at them, while the track beneath the remaining two will be covered in higher vegetation, and the track bumper at the end will be positively buried in grass/weeds.  As you can see from this post from an enemy forum, this is NOT a new concept in the model railroad world...

I have a few portable modules and use the old paint brush bristles for keeping cars spotted at sidings from rolling away. On modules its very easy to spot a car and it ends up down the line in a few minutes.  Some of our venues have unstable floors and just the varying difference in weight of observers will change level or grade in the layout. Clumps of bristles just long enough to brush the axle or along side the rail to touch the side frames will keep a car from rolling away.

    Pete

Thanks for your posts.

Yes, I do like to go down to yards and take pictures.  That's what I did before spending the last three weeks ballasting (4 hours a day most days).  Goodness, glad that is mostly over.

What I learned from these photos that could save time (maybe someone else hasn't realized this either), is that I only need to be meticulous about brushing ballast off the tops of ties on the main line.  The yards (and I have two big ones) often have ballast all over because the speeds are not great enough to cause concern about flying rocks on hoses etc. 

Good tip about using trash paper and strips for discarded metal strapping.  I am going to do that for sure.

Plus I could be adding some short weeds, it seems, from your feedback.

Another way to simulate the black metal strapping pieces is to take some black thread, dip it in your thinned glue mix that you use for scenery adhesive, and place it on your layout.  Shape it with a pair of tweezers, and once dry, it will stay there.

I add low vegetation and spilled lading to my yard, as well as, grease streaks down the middle of the track and a rust wash alone the rail.  There are also other details like ground air hoses, blue flags for the mechanical department, and some discarded red flags:

As long as the scenery stays below the level of the railhead, everything works fine.

I save the taller scenery outside the rail and along the ladder:

Nick

I really like the looks of that slightly overgrown unused or seldom used sidings. I have placed grasses and "ground foam" weeds between the rails for the club layout. The Ops dept, however, doesn't see it as I do. There are many pieces of motive power that can "gobble" up those stray chunks and play h**l w/ the gears.  Guess who won this debate?  Oh well I caved...  But of coarse, every once in awhile some random tufts just seem to grow back until the "Ops" maintainance crew comes through..again.

My observations are that grass is more likely just beyond the ends of the ties and that the few weeds that grow between the rails are more likely to be broad-leaf spreading/flat type weeds.  For us, that's a good thing; many of my locos have exposed gears on the underside and model grass may foul those gears.

bogp40

I really like the looks of that slightly overgrown unused or seldom used sidings. I have placed grasses and "ground foam" weeds between the rails for the club layout. The Ops dept, however, doesn't see it as I do. There are many pieces of motive power that can "gobble" up those stray chunks and play h**l w/ the gears.  Guess who won this debate?  Oh well I caved...  But of coarse, every once in awhile some random tufts just seem to grow back until the "Ops" maintainance crew comes through..again.

Are you not gluing the grass down properly? No wonder the ops guys keep cleaning it up, you're just creating mechanical problems with all the engines.

cv_acr

bogp40:

I really like the looks of that slightly overgrown unused or seldom used sidings. I have placed grasses and "ground foam" weeds between the rails for the club layout. The Ops dept, however, doesn't see it as I do. There are many pieces of motive power that can "gobble" up those stray chunks and play h**l w/ the gears.  Guess who won this debate?  Oh well I caved...  But of coarse, every once in awhile some random tufts just seem to grow back until the "Ops" maintainance crew comes through..again.

 

Are you not gluing the grass down properly? No wonder the ops guys keep cleaning it up, you're just creating mechanical problems with all the engines.

It's glued down like all other scenery/ ground foam etc. the feeling is that, especially in a club setting, many may have equipment w/ open gears and p/u some of the bits of "tall grass" or weeds. I usually will do this on or near the end of seldom used sidings. In most cases the only thing passing over the weeds would be rolling stock not locos. Prototypically, idlers are even used to sw out sidings like this as the poor trackage may not nec support the weight of the enginge in the first place. Club rules are club rules. It's not a home layout.

The point about using brush bristles (tall, dead weeds) to prevent rollaways is a good one.  I intend to experiment with putting a few, slanted in the upgrade direction, on my worst grade, to prevent accidental uncoupling incidents from becoming disasters.

That grade is on a short line that's less than meticulous about keeping weeds down.  On my mainline grade, I'll be able to hide the 'bristle retarders' in tunnels - of which there are several.

A prototype 'look' which I have seen, but don't intend to model - Penn-Central (ex NYC) yard in Illinois in the 1970's:

• Mud to (and over) the tie tops - very little visible ballast.
• Bushes growing between the tracks.  Weeds between the rails, oil-stained where they had rubbed on traction motors.
• One track, completely submerged in the mud, embargoed by nailing a couple of boards (possibly deck boards from a pallet) in an X across the switch target.
• That track had a sapling growing between the rails.
• The track area was thoroughly overgrown and 'trashed.'  Weeds in the adjacent acreage had been beaten down by semis parking trailers there.  (No parking on tracks.)

It might be fun to model, but I'd hate to have to operate it - either model or 1:1 scale!

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

tomikawaTT

The point about using brush bristles (tall, dead weeds) to prevent rollaways is a good one.  I intend to experiment with putting a few, slanted in the upgrade direction, on my worst grade, to prevent accidental uncoupling incidents from becoming disasters.

That grade is on a short line that's less than meticulous about keeping weeds down.  On my mainline grade, I'll be able to hide the 'bristle retarders' in tunnels - of which there are several.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

 Chuck, Monofilament Fishing line will work well also, especially embedded in any of the scenic tall scenic grasses.  We used fine wire on the old layout to help hold rolling stock, but it could  hurt if you got picked laying a hand on it. The fishing line placed along the siding will hold the axles and works well.

This is the neglected spur on my layout

The uneven track makes for a rough ride, but as yet I've had no problems with the grasses, which are scraps of fine-fibre cleaning cloth.

mikelhh

This is the neglected spur on my layout

 

The uneven track makes for a rough ride, but as yet I've had no problems with the grasses, which are scraps of fine-fibre cleaning cloth.

Hey, I know that spur. It leads from Fort Valley Ga. out to the sand pit in Roberta Ga.

A module in work

Hon3, track in foreground code 55, spur code 40. I tried the decrepit track

And a video

Wolfgang.