Most of the yards I have seen are more or less, flat. As in there is no individual rise in road bed for each track. Mostly its easy to do for the railroads,its cheap and it makes it much safer for the crews to work as they dont have to climb up an down or work on off camber hills.
Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Most photos I have seen of the yards show little ballast, but lots of dirt. Sometimes it washes away from the ties, often it covers the ties, but I most often see almost no "ballast". So you could sift some plaster over the cork and then wet it, then paint it, or mix the plaster with tempera that is a mix of black and brown perhaps. I sifted dry dirt from my garden through an old pair of nylons and mixed it with some plaster of paris, and then sprinkled it all over the yard. I rolled it flat with a glass jar and then sprayed it with a light glue mixture. I would call it stiff, not at all hard, and can easily be taken up to do fiddling, be re-crushed, and re-rolled into place.
Maybe try different ways to get your effect on a small piece of plywood or cardboard and see what works best for you.
Take a look at the rails and scenery on the prototype...
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
Or this, if you are in the transition era.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc-s5208ahv.jpg
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
This may not be the anser your looking for, but I know I will change my yard later on, perhaps a slip swich or somthing to make it more interesting.I pulled up my yard track and thickley painted it with Wal-Mart acrylic grey and sprinkeled balast to cover the area. I painted and balasted the yard in about ten minits, let dry and replaced the track. then sprinkled a slightly different color repesenting worn walkway paths between the tracks. If I need to change anything including spacing of track, its a snap. I have had a few compliments from visitors and everone actually looking at it likes the idea. Hope this helps...John
This may not be the anser your looking for, but I know I will change my yard later on, perhaps a slip swich or somthing to make it more interesting.
I pulled up my yard track and thickley painted it with Wal-Mart acrylic grey and sprinkeled balast to cover the area. I painted and balasted the yard in about ten minits, let dry and replaced the track. then sprinkled a slightly different color repesenting worn walkway paths between the tracks.
If I need to change anything including spacing of track, its a snap. I have had a few compliments from visitors and everone actually looking at it likes the idea. Hope this helps...John
Medina1128 wrote:Since you live in Baltimore, your best bet would be to go check out one of the local yards. That should give you a pretty good idea. When I lived in Phoenix, Santa Fe and Southern Pacific both had yards there, and they were highly visible from the roadside, with places to park and check things out. DO NOT JUST WANDER AROUND OUT THERE, THOUGH!!
THanks everyone... I have been wanting to explore so of the yards in the Baltimore area I am just not sure how to go about it.. I like the idea of keeping the cinders almost flat with the ties make s sence... I did not put alot of track in the yard right now there 8- 3 ft sections for the yard and plenty of space between a pair for a structure and the such..One day I will post photos so everyone can see what the hell I am talking about.. J