Progress At Penn Station Hand Laid Track

The first photo shows the ties all glued down.  Tuesday and Wednesday I sanded them with a power sander.  The kind with a flat rectangle base and used 120 grit paper.  Worked pretty well.  After sanding Warren used a fine tooth saw blade to make ridges in most of the ties to create some grain.

Then on Thursday I applied Min-wax Classic Gray Stain to all the ties taking care to not miss any spots on the sides and ends of the ties.

Another area of the ties with the stain.

 Then today, Friday, after the stain had dried I streaked the ties very lightly with Min-Wax Ebony stain to create oil, grease, and cinder stains on the ties. 

Another section of the Ebony stained ties.

After this dries overnight I will put down the final coloring using Raw Umber to give the ties a brown look.  The gray and Ebony will show though to some degree.  Some will receive a darker treatment to represent new ties and some very little brown to give them a faded look of old ties.

Stay Tuned!