weathered track in the station?

[egroeg93]

Hey guys,

everytime i got to any medium/large railway station, i notice how the trackbed is so very dirt where trains are generally stationary. So has anyone got any tips on weathering like this?? And before i go mad and experiment, i noticed a tub of shoe polish knocking around the other day, if i mix up a bit of brown shoe polish and matt black, could that create the perfect texture/colour for this sort of weathering??

[SouthernBoy]

I wouldn't use shoe polish - it'll be oily / greasy and get on your wheels/gears and pick-ups.

I'd suggest a number of thin washes of dark paint. I've used 'Railmatch Oily Steel' on parts of my layout where I want that gungy oil look around point mechanisisms and where locos frequently stop.

[egroeg93]

Ook, just layer it up slowly, thanks

yahh, i'd need to be super careful

[Karhedron]

Take a gloss black paint (acrylic should do if you do not like enamels) add a small amount of grey of brown (even black is rarely as black as paint). Then thin it down to the consistentcy of skimmed milk and apply in thin layers. This will allow you to build up the patches of dirt.

[Beccles]

I would suggest a burnt umber oil wash, milliput is ideal for making rubbish and mans tissues soaked in pva glue and water is ideal for replicating loo roll etc.

Dry brushing with humbrol grey 64 will give the weathering a bit of depth.

[Metrocamel]

On my layout I needed track that was saturated with oil, to the point where the ballast is essentially black and thick with oil. I used tiling caulk over normal ballasted track to get the texture, then painted it various shades of blue to black with a PVA coating to get a slight shine.

[GROTLAND]

You could experiment with the 'test pot' emulsions from Wickes. You'll soon be mixing up all the suitable railway colours at very little cost and you can always brush some thinned laquer or varnish on afterwards on especially oily loco deposit areas.