I've missed some of the messages on this subject, so I may be out of line;
however I will chump off and raise some questions. It sounds like you may be
talking about the latter days of branch line railroading. If so the
conditions weren't typical of branch line operations as I remember them. I
was on the branches in the '30s and 40's. (These were little branches in the
boondocks, originally 4 trains a day, later 2.) Things were kept fairly
ship-shape, both on the structures and the track. I worked on a section
gang in the mid 40's. We busted our fannies keeping the track straight and
level. Weeds were kept back by keeping track well ballasted, and by
occasional runs by weed-burners. The branches I remember could be modeled
without making weed-beds or building wiggly track.
DRale
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