Model railways, or perhaps modelling in general, must be one of the few endevours where you take nice shiny new things and make them unshiny. To this end all the track, bar the concrete sleepers, got a good sprayed dose of Railmatch 'Sleeper Grime'. The can was six years old and wouldn't play ball to start with, but after fiddling with the nozzle for an hour it suddenly sprung into life. The rail heads were wiped off (with a little thinners for the stubborn bits) with a cloth. The transformation is quite stunning. This is the first layout where it hasn't just evolved over time, it's a pleasure to be able to do this sort of thing all in one go rather the piecemeal over time. Later it will be gone over with appropriate paints to more texture. Point rodding and platform painting next, followed by... ballasting - oh what fun. Plus a kit-build of the best 7mm BR brake van kit.

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