Getting on the Right Track

I've spent some time over the last few weeks making little tweaks to the Julian Andrews inspired micro layout as and when I've had time. Inspired by a discussion on the NGRM Online forum about how track looked (as a reaction to a piece by Iain Rice in Model Railway Journal), I revisited the sleeper spacing on the 'main line' around the curve. In order to lose the regularity (if you can call it that) of the Peco track I removed about 5-6 sleepers and respaced the remainder. The sidings had already been through a similar process when laid but I chose to lose a couple more sleepers there, and also to realign the inner siding to make a bit more room for the trees behind.

On one of my lunchtime walks, where I'll freely admit I ruminate about model railway projects, I realised that although I wouldn't have time to do much to this project over the summer, there would be a distinct advantage to getting the track painted during "better" weather. So last weekend I made preparations and sprayed away...

My method was to use Halfords matt dark brown sprayed at the rail sides, then to stand the board on end and a (lighter) Humbrol matt bown sprayed over the sleepers, with a smattering of grey primer too, after the Humbrol can splattered, failed and made a bit of a mess.

It did all look a bit of an unhappy mess for a while, but it was only ever intended as a base. A couple of evenings tinkering with acrylics added some slightly rustier tones to rail sides and dry-brushing the sleepers with some woody tones. A recent article in the NGIRM Review on track is also worth reading with regard to how nature interacts with the permanent way so there will no doubt be further adjustments once ballasting and scenic treatments begin, whenever that might be... 

Colin