Weathering track

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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There might be a lower limit to how much junk is left lying around a real life work area compared to the modeling norm; this Mo Pac roundhouse image on John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library’s Flicker album enlarges to something like 6000 by 4700 pixels, https://flic.kr/p/2kYx639

These images also might be a guide to how much junk to have around a roundhouse,

Date, 1900, https://www.shorpy.com/node/22674

Date, 1923, https://www.shorpy.com/node/11371

Date, 1942, https://www.shorpy.com/node/19923

Date, 1943, https://www.shorpy.com/node/6789

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Thank for your kind words, kasskaboose.
I do have some junk around the car- and locomotive-shops, but not much where it would be in the way of day-to-day work…

Thanks for posting that 1942 photo, as the ground there looks just about as lumpy as does mine in front of the Mount Forest roundhouse.

What continued to bug me about its earlier appearance was that the “water” and “spilled oil” (a combination of several applications of Testor’s Glosscote and several more applications of a clear, water-based gloss) was that its surface tension was such that it crept up the sides of the rails, which just didn’t look right.
Last night, I got out the not-too-watery black craft paint again, and applied it to the sides of the rails. Once it had dried (dead flat) the whole scene looked a lot better to me…

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In the last ten to fifteen years before the Soo Line tore up the yard in Ashland, WI, the entire yard looked to be floating in a sea of sticky black goo. I wouldn’t even walk there because I didn’t want to ruin my shoes.