Overgrown tracks

[railwayman198]

Being a bit of a wimp I have not given my line much attention during the cold weather. The weather was not bad today so I ventured out and was impressed by the rampant growth of moss and 'mind your own business' during the damp conditions.

So I got the mogul out and took some pics of the overgrown state of the tracks. The moss likes the base of the platform wall. In some places it has grown to platform height.

 

[railwayman198]

I'm not sure how many pics I can put in one post so here are a few more.

 

[railwayman198]

And finally a couple of pics of the 'mind your own business' plant which is taking hold in one part of the line.

For those that are interested, this set of pics are my first attempt at using my DSLR instead of my compact camera for pics of the railway. Crisper quality but smaller depth of field. I'm not sure at the mo but it's worth persevering.

 

[robsmorgan]

Great pictures Philip,
hope to get my layout looking as good.... moss isn't a problem but I haven't been very successful finding mind-your-own-business. Also very impressive weathering!

 

[ped]

Yep, i aggree,great pics and lovely weathering job, iv'e tried growing mind your own but found it only does well in shady areas, perhaps these are the conditions it likes, anybody else know?.

 

[minimans]

S

Yep, i aggree,great pics and lovely weathering job, iv'e tried growing mind your own but found it only does well in shady areas, perhaps these are the conditions it likes, anybody else know?.

Shady and wet!! if it dries out at all it will die off but if you then keep the area wet again it comes back, it will spread but is easily kept in check by pulling it out by the handfull and plonking it down somewhere else. but it does cover the bare dirt nicely and is better than concrete or gravel in my opinion...........

 

[ped]

Thanks for that Minimans, oops,any of mine that went brown i threw, ah well we all learn from our mistakes, and i do aggree with you, green is better than grey.

 

[KeithT]

That looks good but coming from mainline territory I always expect my track to be weed free!
I like the weathering too.

 

[owlpool]

very nice look

 

[Pauly]

I like overgrown track

 

[Doug]

Thymus minimus looks similar to mind-your-own-business, but is draker green. It doesn't grow as fast, but being a thyme it grows in sunnier and drier conditions. Had overtaken my track completely in the past 6 months, just tidied up this morning for a photoshoot for an article for GardenRail.

 

[The Devonian]

My ballast never gets overgrown: not advisable when running heavy freight trains. The engineer needs to see what lies ahead of him.

As i run any afternoon when not raining or very cold and windy I always check the permanent way whilst enjoying the trains movements. During the visual check any seedlings are pinched out, leaves and debris likely to cause derailments removed and any ballast moved by birds, cats, dogs etc. is dealt with. All part of maintenance I feel.

However if you wish to model a run down or decrepit railroad then leave nature to make its own decisions. :bigsmile:

 

[Martino]

I really wish I could get moss or something to grow like that - it looks superb.

Down here in NW Florida it's either too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold for anything! Wet and humid, so the moss starts, then hot and dry so it dries off and then torrential rain so it get washed away!

Not complaining though - no snow and lovely blue skies most of the year.

Those photos, gentleman, are terrific.

 

[Rob]

lovely photo's, lovely line!
try putting the camera in aperure priority mode, A or Tv and set it to around F8 or F12 which should give you a reasonable depth of field and keep the shutter speed high

 

[CoggesRailway]

These are great. I love it. Being a 6 month old railway I am only starting to get encroachment but I will be letting it go like you guys have...

 

[pugwash]

For those that are interested, this set of pics are my first attempt at using my DSLR instead of my compact camera for pics of the railway. Crisper quality but smaller depth of field. I'm not sure at the mo but it's worth persevering.

Yep.
If you are using a zoom (say 18-55) use the wider angle (18) and get in closer, this will also give greater DoF, and if lighting (lack of) or camera shake start to become a problem turn the ISO up - most Nikons are as good at ISO 800 as ISO 200.
And whatever you do, keep posting the pics!

 

[railwayman198]

For those that are interested, this set of pics are my first attempt at using my DSLR instead of my compact camera for pics of the railway. Crisper quality but smaller depth of field. I'm not sure at the mo but it's worth persevering.

Yep.
If you are using a zoom (say 18-55) use the wider angle (18) and get in closer, this will also give greater DoF, and if lighting (lack of) or camera shake start to become a problem turn the ISO up - most Nikons are as good at ISO 800 as ISO 200.
And whatever you do, keep posting the pics!

These were taken with a 21mm prime lens but I'm afraid I took the lazy way out and left the camera on 'P' setting. I have a fair understanding of the effect of adjusting the aperture and ISO settings but I need a firm prod to make me actually do it! Hopefully next time I'll force myself to take my time and play around with the various settings and the different effects to be had. I'm sure I'm not fully exploiting what the camera is capable of as yet. All part of the fun.

 

[Shawn]

Moss looks great on narrow gauge logging/mineing layouts. I have a section of layout that grows mass very well. I wish the entire layout did this. Moss makes the best ground cover. You can walk on it, easy to control and stays at a perfect height.

 

[Dave Ottney]

Philip,
Wonderful pictures. How did you make the platform in the first couple of pictures? The brick and stone work is great.
Dave

 

[matthew]

Was just about the ask the same myself

stonework looks fantastic