I'm about to get into areas of my layout that have industrial spurs coming off the mainline that are, well... they haven't been maintained all that well by the railroad.
Times are hard, you know.
My mainline is well ballasted and neat (for the most part ), but I want to do some of my spurs where the track is lacking in ballast and, at places, the ties are almost cover in dirt. A little weedy here and there. My personal ground cover technique is to use ground goop (but not always) with real dirt of different textures sifted over it, then perhaps a thin layer of fine ground foam from WS or Scenic Express. I'm thinking about putting the dirt down without using the ground goop as a base , with a little ballast thrown in for good measure but not much. This would, of course, be glued with a 50/50 mix of white glue or matte medium.
To those that have modeled this type of track what technique worked for you and if you have photos that would be great.
Thanks,
Jarrell
the consensus among modelers is to use lighter weight rail but t have not done this myself. i still have several miles of code 100 flex track and when the rails are painted they don't look so big after all. consider painting or staining the rail tops where locomotives do not run on stub tracks for an added realistic touch. one thing i usually do though, is space the crossties farther apart. easy to do if you are hand laying the track but even with flex track it is easy. just cut the little connecting tabs and pull the ties apart more. having sidings and spur tracks at a lower level is also convincing. if you are using cork roadbed, you can taper it down with a sureform plane. just don't make the drop to sudden or you will have tracking issues at the ends of the vertical curves. this is especially important where the turnout curves into the frog area. after ballasting, a few bits of trash like paper, small pieces of wood and broken glass add a nice touch along with some sprigs of fiber to represent weeds and grass. the kind of trash should be consistent with the type of material loaded or unloaded at the site. grain cars usually leak little piles of grain near the rails and if the grain is moving in box cars, larger pieces of brown or tan colored paper and thin rusty colored strips represent the heavy kraft paper and banding found in grain doors. early style refrigerator cars usually leak a bit of water from the melting ice and clear testors cement represents this convincingly.
grizlump
Central Valley makes branchline tie strips with a lower profile and wider tie spacing. They look great for sidings. You can angle and stagger the ties when you glue them down. My only advice is to remember that dirt dries a darker color after you glue it, so start out with a lighter color dirt.http://www.cvmw.com/cvt/index.htm
They also sell shorter code rail for their tie strips.
I've used (in H0) fine ballast, CV branchline tie strips and Woodland. And even code 55 for some spurs.
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
Hi Jarrell: Here's my formula for sidings. Fine black ballast as a base. Then, on two of my sidings, a mix of fine black ballast, fine WS green, earth, soil, and burnt grass foam. Here's a few pics.
Fine black ballast, filled to the tops of the ties, painted with dark earth latex paint.
Ballast and foam mix.
Thanks guys for the information. Wedudley and Grampy I appreciate the photos, your sidings are precisely the 'look' I'm after! Grampy, do you have a ratio of sorts that you use to make your 'blend'? I love that last photo especially.
Hi Jarrell: Thank you for the compliment. Unfortunately, I do scenery the way my wife cooks, a little of this, a little of that, a pinch of this, a pinch of that, you get the idea. I believe I just sprinkled fine ground foam, various shades, in random patches, until I thought it looked right, then used the same method as I use for ballast, achohol as a wetting agent, then 50/50 water and Elmers white glue, both applied with a child's medicine dropper. Sorry I couldn't give you a more precise formula.
Thanks for the reply, Grampy. The way your wife cooks is the best way, as is your scenery. Everytime I see one of your pictures I think, now THAT'S the look I'm after. Why... 'cause it looks real.
I'll take my spur that goes back to the oil distributor and do a little experimenting myself, using your basic method, till I get the look I want, or pretty near it.
Appreciate the photo and the help!
Hi Jarrell: Judging by the work you've already done, I'm sure that spur will turn out great. BTW, my wife's cooking usually turns out pretty good!
Here're a few more pictures from my trackwork and sorroundings.
Wolfgang
A little bit dirt, ground foam, ect.
Wolfgang, you do great work! The track looks as neglected as I want mine to look. I like the guy looking under the water tower. It's like he lost something and is very intent on finding it. Thank you very much for the link to the photos. Like they say, one picture is worth a thousand words.
Tomkat, you guys have convinced me. Some dirt, maybe a little ballast and some ground foam and I should be in business.
Thanks for the pictures, I learn a lot from them.
My next layout (currently in the "room being prepped" stage) (HO scale) will have code 83 mains, and I'm thinking code 70 on some of the sidings and yard tracks, any spurs from code 70 will step on down to code 55. I've thought about even using code 40, if I could find some (flextrack) in HO scale My era is 1957, shortline/branchline operation, which may have seen 1 or 2 trains a day. I've seen spurs so neglected that the tracks crews would have to come in with a chainsaw before anyone could even spot a car, and the railheads were even with the surrounding dirt (and perhaps a couple inches below in a few spots). Not to mention the overgrown trees adjacent to the spur, branches and brush hanging over. I intend to model at least one or 2 of these on my layout somewhere, and most likely some abandoned or disused/disconnected track as well.
Brad
EMD - Every Model Different
ALCO - Always Leaking Coolant and Oil
CSX - Coal Spilling eXperts
twcenterprises My next layout.... even using code 40, if I could find some (flextrack) in HO scale
Code 40 will be hard.
I've soldered one turnut with code 55, I had to do it. No problems. I guess, code 40 is no problem when you solder the rails to PC board ties. Perhaps you can check CV tie strips.
jacon12 Everytime I see one of your pictures I think, now THAT'S the look I'm after. Why... 'cause it looks real.
Everytime I see one of your pictures I think, now THAT'S the look I'm after. Why... 'cause it looks real.
I think that when I look at both you guys layouts!
wedudlertwcenterprises My next layout.... even using code 40, if I could find some (flextrack) in HO scale Code 40 will be hard. I've soldered one turnut with code 55, I had to do it. No problems. I guess, code 40 is no problem when you solder the rails to PC board ties. Perhaps you can check CV tie strips.Wolfgang
Nah.... if I have to handlay code 40, then I'm not going to mess with it. BTW, will RP25 wheel flanges clear code 40? Code 55 they will, but not sure about code 40.... if they won't then it's kind of pointless to start with. Also, does any company make code 55 turnouts? I think Shinohara makes code 70 ones.... if they can be found.