Goods yard ground cover

[muggins]

It's just dawned on me that I haven't a clue how to do the ground in my (00) goods yard. I have the track ballasted, but what do I use between the tracks to give me that archetypal steam-era goods yard surface?

The effect I'm after is where the ground is getting on for level with the top of the sleepers, it merges into the track ballast, and as far as I can recall seemed to consist of gravel, mud, ash, cinders, more mud and 101 different types of grot and filth of an indeterminate dark grey/brown colour, sometimes brightened up here and there with the odd puddle and patch of half-dead grass and weeds.

Is what I need a thin coating of tile adhesive/grout with a bit of acrylic colour in it? If so, how do I get it on so there's no spreader marks on the surface when it goes off?

[NickH]

I used textured masonry paint, in my case a pale cream left over from painting the house, with added acrylic black paint to suit. Tester pots can be useful, I've recently found that the more expensive ones can be better value, as many of the cheap ones contain little actual paint.

[muggins]

I used textured masonry paint ...

What a jolly good idea! Hmmm ... I reckon it's time to try adding various stuffs to emulsion paint to see what I can come up with

[CandO]

I used textured masonry paint

Do you think the textured ceiling paint would have the same effect ??

[NickH]

I am not sure what constitutes textured ceiling paint, but I suspect it is not the same as masonry paint, which seems to consist of some sandy type of material added to the paint giving a grainy finish, whereas I wonder whether the ceiling paint is more substantial to create Artexy effects.

[Bufferstop]

Sounds pretty much like it, you can never really stir the grainy stuff into the paint and it's foul when you try to wash the brushes out, you end up with a bowl of sludge, but it does leave a random grainy surface.