# Ground for rail yard



## Dave NYC 1962 (Oct 17, 2020)

I put my entire yard on cork road bed. I didnt want to have a change in height from the mainlines. But I do want to give it more of a yard look without lots of ballast. I was thinking of either a thin coat of plaster or I have a texture paint (sanded) that I could use instead. The plaster would be more realistic looking I think, but the texture paint would be easier. Does anyone have any experience with either? Would one conceal the cork better or look better? Also, I’m a bit worried about filling inside the track rails. Would some blue masking tape along the inside keep the rails clean enough or do I need some styrene or something thicker?

Thanks, Dave


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

Marking a yard look like a yard is a work of precision. Using ballast that looks more like dirt as apposed to the mainline where the ballast stones actually stand out.
Use a fine ballast and keep in mind that a yard is a messy place, with lots of spilled or leaked contents from the hoppers and tankers.
A coal facility will mostly be spilled coal so the look of the yard will be mostly black. Classification yards can have various colors of ballast as its usually the least concern for looking good as the mainline is. Usually a lot of track replacement as well due to derailments and track repair.
In the picture below, the change in ballast color depicts a yard that was expanded after the original yard was built.


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

Another way is to bring the top of the sub-roadbed ply under the entire yard, up to the top of the main-line cork, lifting its risers, in HO, 3/16" and continuing the yard tracks on out from there.
Saves price of cork and and need for ramps of any kind. 🛤🌄


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

What I did in my yard is used basically just plain dirt to fill in the depressions between tracks and bring the dirt level up. I actually used a product from Scenic Express called "Natural Soil & Dirt". You can get it in different grades of coarseness. I then just glued it down like you would regular ballast with watered down PVA glue. Here's what my yard looks like:








You could use less ballast and more dirt on your tracks if you like.

Mark


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