I am building a curved station on my outdoor layout, so I haven't done much running as I had to pull up the track to pour the platforms. The photo doesn't really show how much water is in there. Gonna have to drill through the ply and make some drains. This wider shot also shows that durhams water putty can develop quite the slick surface. Even the water based kils couldn't stick to it. I'll have to do some sanding. Modeling outside leads to many unexpected hurdles, but it's easy enough to tear things out and fix em. My long term plans are to install light poles that work for night running. All the overpainting will get covered by ballast and ground cover. A european style station building will be put in place along with other station structures. And finally, catenary will be strung over the lines for the electrics to use.
Just make sure any holes you drill for drainage are sealed good. If you don't the wood will rot inside out...
Eric, Sadly creosote is not available to the likes of me and you. You see, we are not in control of our own ability to think. We would put it in plastic bags and sniff it, so that we could attain a REAL RAILROAD HIGH from it. It's illegal because it causes cancer in model railroader mice. So no, it's more of a tar smell. After a year in the weather my ply sections were coming unglued. i've started painting everything with bitumen and then glueing shingles down with it. So everything is getting a very weather proofed finish. I do have enough bitumen to cover a very large area... I was walking down an alley one day and sitting next to a trash dumpster was almost 5 gallons of the stuff in a big bucket. Score! Boxcab, the catenary will be un powered to start with. Maybe later it'll get power, but since I run steam,diesel and electrics, making it operable would be a real hassle, so probably not.
