Today I started the work to ballast tracks and add basic scenery to the Papermill area in South Hallelujah at Silicon Valley Lines.
The paper yard tracks are due for reballasting, but that hasn't happened yet, so there's some old ballast and plenty of greenery around the tracks. The yard track on the left doesn't get much use, so it's a bit more overgrown than the other tracks. I need to add a bit more sand and ground cover between the tracks on the right. They are currently too green.
The ballast on the main line on the far left will be very neat and well maintained, which should create a nice contrast with the yard tracks.
I used pretty much the standard approach here: Spray paint the track (Leather works well, but I used Cinnamon today).
Add brown ballast on the tracks, some fine sand between the tracks, and a mix of Woodland Scenic Burnt Grass and Yellow Grass fine flock as basic ground cover. I worked in sections of 2-3 square feet at a time. I lay down the ballast and basic texture, soak it with 70% isopropyl alcohol, followed by a generous application of Matte Medium, and sift / sprinkle the flock mix on the soaked ground. Finally, clean the railheads and move on to the next section.
The turnouts had some work done more recently and thus have fresher ballast, which I will need to tone down a bit. The white granules stand out too much.
The yard lead crosses the mine branch at Hallelujah Junction and ducks behind the double-track main line as we transition into the Hemet area owned by Jeff.
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