Canal Street Wharf: cinder ballast...

My Christmas holiday project is taking steps forward every day, and I've made a start on the scenery now the track has been laid on the board...

I've wanted to try out DAS clay for a muddy yard for a while, and I decided I'd try and model a cinder/ash covered yard on the layout. I've read how Chris Nevard uses the clay, and on the surface finishes used by the Inkerman Street layout project in Model Railway Journal (1990s).

At this stage, the clay was pressed in around the track, and the flange ways, checked. As this isn't 'inlaid track' there is no need for a check rail. The stock just cuts it's own groove in the ash ballast of the prototype. Since this is a coal transhipment area, it seemed more fitting than a cobbled or concrete wharf, more in keeping with a down at heel water works railway. More soon...