Garden Railway Forum

I'm currently planning an extension to my garden line which will be a terminus area with shunting and loco turning facilities, this will be an area roughly 3.5m x 0.5m raised on a platform around 0.6m high. A very common method that l have seen of doing this would be a timber platform covered with roofing felt which I think always looks like what it is, i.e. roofing felt and I want something to look a bit more realistic.
I have seen somewhere but cannot recall where, an arrangement of a timber framework covered with a metal mesh with the framework laid on and then the whole ballasted with horticultural grit or some similar sized stone. To my mind this seems like a good idea as drainage will not be an issue and I think it will look right, also point control will be easily achieved with wire in a tube underneath the "baseboard".
I'm wondering if anybody else here has any experience of this idea or indeed any thoughts that they may like to share.

I was going to mention this as an alternative construction method in answer to another post. I think I first saw it on an American garden railway forum. If my memory serves they used timber directly under the track work (means you have to plan your track layout and build accordingly) covered with a wire mesh, followed by some kind of landscaping cloth to allow water through but hold the fines used to landscape.
Grant.

I stopped using roofing felt a while back and use cheaper and easier to work with weed control matting (stuff you can get at garden centres or builders merchants, etc).

My line is raised like yours. I tack the matting to treated wood gravel boards and then place gravel on top. No issues with wood rot and my line has been outside for many years.