Do nothing different then you would do if you were laying track. if you want to beat up the ties a bit maybe hack them a little with an exacto knife etc. but just fill the non railed area's with maybe a little extra dirt,ballast, weeds etc. Paint the rails a good rust color and remember to not remove the paint from the tops of the rails like my buddy did. He had a rarely used siding to an old abandoned factory with nice shinny rail tops. Needless to say the guys in the club didn't let him live that down.
I would just put the track down on the base, and then "ballast" it with sand or dirt. Use turf as a top layer, and don't be afraid to get some on top of the ties. Pull a few ties off completely and have them half-buried in the dirt by the side of the tracks. Have some field grass growing up between the ties to give it a really abandoned look.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I think making a shallow trough in the foam would work just fine but, I'd pour some soupy plaster into the trough first. Then lay the track and ties in and let it sink, or push it in a bit. This to me seems easier than laying track and pplying scenery later since there'd be much less to clean off the ties/track. Since it's an abandoned section, guage is unimportant as is keeping things level.
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
Cuda,
The Cowman is on target. That's exactly what I did to a small operating diorama I had a couple of decades ago. At the freight house section, I filled the brass track between the rails and outside of the rails with orange-tan clay colored dirt/ballast from Woodland Scenics competitor (forgot their name, they're gone now). The illusion worked and visitors often complimented me on the diorama's look. You could not see the ties at all, just the rails.
This is an easy method. If you take this route, remember to make sure that their is a tiny gap next to the rails so that your wheel flanges will clear. You can create the gap simply by running your finger nail snuggly along the rails before applying the glue with a spray bottle.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Is there a reason you can't fill in between the ties with dirt, plaster, sculptamold or whatever? Bring the ground up around them.
Other thought is to sand the ties down or use thin strips of wood the width of ties.
Good luck,
i would just put the ties on top of the pink foam. after the scenery details are added, the top of the ties would be even with the scenery giving you the look you are after.
I have some old brass code 83 track and want to use it as a abounded spur. I want some ties showing with no rails, ripped up rails and a few still in places. This section is on 2 inch foam and I want to sink the ties to where they are even with the foam.
I was going to wrap some sand paper around a section and sand the foam. After the track was counter sunk it the foam, add some plaster to fill in the impressions. That would work with the section's that still has rails, what about ties with no rails? Do I dig out the foam for each tie?
If some of you kind folks could post a few pictures it would help a lot.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust