Here is a photograph of one of the first track sections after painting and weathering. It is posed on top of a Woodland Scenics gravel mat as I do not have any ballast immediately accessible, but I wanted to try and get a feel for the finished look. This is an extreme macro photograph, but hopefully the results will be apparent. (To the naked eye everything is a bit more subtle.):

Next step - attach feeder wires, drill holes and lay the track!
Tim