On The Workbench - The Rail Yard

On December 27th I'll be running a game set in downtown Vani.  Vani is the capital of the self-declared Andreivian Armenian Republic.  Some of the action will take place around the goods station which has been taken over as the HQ of the United Nations Monitoring Mission.

Today I made considerable progress on laying down some tracks...

Track-laying in progress.

The base is an off-cut of MDF.  It fits alongside my existing city board.  I textured it by painting it with exterior masonry paint and then over over-painted in deliberately patchy grey acrylic.  The tracks were then stuck down with a No-More-Nails type adhesive.

The shot above was taken just before I started adding stone chippings as ballast.  This was tipped roughly into place with a spatula and then coaxed into the right position with a paintbrush.  Finally I dripped on a mixture of PVA and water with a little washing up liquid added to help it flow.  Capillary action carries the adhesive through the stones and binds them together.

The shot below shows a possible layout with my warehouse as the Goods Station.

The ballast seems to have adhered quite well.  Close up (below) it's a bit messy but a little washing and dry brushing will help considerably.  The wooded level crossings need painting to tone down the coffee stirrers from which they are made.