My yard


cncproadwarrior

North of the 49th
This is my first attempt at building a yard. After a bizillion iterations of laying down paint and dirt and then ripping it up, I've finally got something that I think looks half decent.

I started with a layer of fine crushed stone. When the glue dried, I brushed it with a wire brush to smoothen it out. Then I glued down some fine dirt and brushed it off before it dried, just to get patchy "stains" over most of the stones.

Lastly, I mixed 4 parts black paint to one part dark gray to get a dirty black colour and brushed this on the ties.

I even included a few repair patches of crushed stone.

Constructive criticism welcomed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Its looking good. Thats a good sized yard.
I've found that trying to work ballast or "dirt" when wet is very difficult. Usually, I lay it and brush to contour, then apply wet-water and glue. Depending on what effect I want, I may mix in dry Tempera paint - brown or black. I do, however, apply glue to the edges of roadbed and sprinkle ballast on very carefully. After its dry, go back and fill in the ties, mist with wet-water and then glue.
Regards,
Jon
my pix
 
This is my first attempt at building a yard. After a bizillion iterations of laying down paint and dirt and then ripping it up, I've finally got something that I think looks half decent.

I started with a layer of fine crushed stone. When the glue dried, I brushed it with a wire brush to smoothen it out. Then I glued down some fine dirt and brushed it off before it dried, just to get patchy "stains" over most of the stones.

Lastly, I mixed 4 parts black paint to one part dark gray to get a dirty black colour and brushed this on the ties.

I even included a few repair patches of crushed stone.

Constructive criticism welcomed.



Looks very good. I do like the color.
 
Looking good :D . It would be nice to add a line of black in the center of the track, like if the loco where leaking oil
 
I think you have done a fantastic job so far. I know you're not done yet but maybe a little ground foam or weeds scattered down in the valley between sets of tracks.
 
Bernie, you have done a very good job with the coloring. It looks like a very busy yard: worn and nasty. I wouldn't put any weeds/ground foam in-between the tracks or even in the yard, as the traffic of trains and workers would keep them down. However, the perimeters seldom get any maintenance and would have brush/weeds, etc.
 
I wouldn't put any weeds/ground foam in-between the tracks or even in the yard, as the traffic of trains and workers would keep them down. However, the perimeters seldom get any maintenance and would have brush/weeds, etc.

I've seen weeds growing (just a few) here and there in the Amtrak / METRA yards just south of Chicago Union Station. They don't seem to last for long though.
 
Nice track laying job and the coloring looks good and nasty, like Rex said. :) Lots of crossovers too, something my yard sadly lacks.
 



Back
Top