Making sectional track look more realistic Part 1

Most model railroaders use flextrack for the majority of their track work, it is easy to work with and gives fairly good results. But don't overlook regular old sectional track (such as that made by Atlas and others) for background areas or if you need a short section of track and don't want to cut into a 36" piece of flex.

Most sectional track (as well as some flextrack) looks too "train set ish" as it comes from the manufacturer. It can, however, be vastly improved with a little bit of work. As can most types of flextrack (these same techniques apply to most flextrack too). These techniques can be a bit time consuming, so they're mostly for people who count their hobby dollars instead of their hobby time.

First, take a look at the section of track (sectional or flex). It looks too uniform, too perfect, as seen in these photos.

It looks nothing like REAL railroad track. Next we'll cover some ideas on how to make it look more realistic.