So here's where I am so far. I want something in the ditch, maybe some rocks, water, and some kind of water vegetation, but not too much. Maybe some brush/weeds at the grassline.

I like the Jim Six grass suggestion, like the look. I had to lower the profile of the foam so the grass wasn't above the rail.

This was my first attempt at ballast, thoughts/suggestions before the wet water and glue comes out?

So, I plan to make an "Old West" train, as accurate to the 1870s as i can... but, with my own twist (because I';m a bit of a nutter)

I have a number of B.T.S. "War Between the States" cars... but I also have a plastic "SOU" passenger car.

Eventually, I want to have everything weathered right for "1870"... in other words, the cars are new enough not to be too bad, and the crew are proud of their trains.

Way back when I didn't know "so much" about model railroading (i.e. I didn't know any better...), I took a tip from Dave Frary's scenery book (1st ed) and got myself a can of baseball diamond dirt to use as - you guessed it - "dirt" for my layout. I think he recommended it since it's relatively free from anything other than dirt (little/no twigs, grass, etc) and is relatively fine.

You can see my recent railfanning here.