scenery weathering

The bridge at County Gate. Stalagmites under the bridge were made by teasing out half dried epoxy glue.

Steam railways, even with the best will in the world, were always very dirty affairs. Paint used prior to World War Two was also pretty poor, fading quite quickly and losing gloss. Anti rust coatings for steel were either galvanising or red lead. Most outdoor steel began to rust within a few months particularly if near the coast.

I tend to weather much more than is normal in the UK and Germany, having learned my skills in the USA. Mostly, I use weathering powder but I also will paint with a varied palette. I have a horror of shiny finishes, a problem solved with weathering!

This photo shows the colour variation that can be found on paving. The area to the left is little used and is more shaded from the sun. Grass gets everywhere particularly before the days of residual herbicides.

It is always important to know where due North is on a model railway. North sides of buildings will always have different colourings than South sides. There will be more green algae on tiles, bricks etc. Lime mortar steaks a lot more than cement, so streaking, (that is the painting kind), is important.

the roof of County Gate Station

The weathering is not just confined to structures. Most cars will not look like they just came out of the showroom. There will be mud splashes and rust...(on many British cars of the period, it was only the mud that held them together). Many vehicles of the period lost as much oil through oil leaks as through the exhaust pipe. Road surfaces would show this.

Weathering of the track is a slow operation but important. There will always be areas of new ballast, but elsewhere, steam and lubricating oil will find itself on the ballast in long streaks. This is particularly true where locos regularly stop. Here there will also be ash from fire cleaning.

ash on the track outside the sheds

looking down the platform

The weathering of locomotives and rolling stock can produce very emotional viewpoints. We are modelling a railway down on its heels, due to staff cutbacks and economies. Rolling stock on the L&B did vary in colour, particularly freight stock, as paint was not always mixed to the same code.

In addition, pre-war paints faded much faster than is normally the case now. Our coaches vary slightly in both colour and cleanliness, representing the differing times that each unit had been to the paintshop.

Our L&B locos are only slightly weathered, but some of the harbour branch locos look very careworn.

It is difficult to equate detailed weathering with scale. A closeup macro photo will not give the same impression as a view of a loco on the layout. Everything is a compromise. The photos at 450,800 and 2000 pixels will show the difference.

a slightly weathered Backwoods 'Taw'  - click on image for larger resolution

heavily weathered Garratt - Click on image for larger resolution