A tale of track and ballasting...

 I've been experimenting with track painting and ballast this week.

I don't want a uniform look to my layout, as like the real thing, track colour and ballast varies over time as bits get replaced. To that end my approach is to take my time and complete the track painting and ballast in stages.

I purchased three types of ballast from Hornby - grey, grey basaltic, and limestone. I also purchased 3 railmatch paints - sleeper grime, dark rust and light rust.

These are the results:

The limestone and grey basaltic on their own are clearly overscale for TT 120. The grey on it's own looks... odd? I'm not sure why it looks so rounded.

I then decided to mix all all three:

Hmm, not sure! 

Moving onto a stretch of Hornby track (since that's what my roundy round layout uses) and I tried a mix of just the grey and grey basaltic rock. I also tried two different mixes for the rail sides; starting with a few drops of water I added all three paints for one half and then just the two rust colours for the other half.

Much better I think! I intend to use the mix of just rust colours for the sidings and less used sections of track. I'll also use the three types of ballasts in different areas of my layout, perhaps with some chinchilla sand or finer grey ballast added to improve the overscale look. The limestone for example can be used nearer the tunnel mouths with a transition to the grey/basaltic mix, and in areas like the engine shed I can just use the basaltic rock which dries darker. A black/grey wash with some coal deposits should help set the scene.

But first, I need to paint all of the track!