Pics of yard entrance foliage transition

[mmagliaro]

Heh, I know the subject is demanding and specific.

What I mean is, somewhere back
down the main, you have foliage, trees, maybe grassy cover along the tracks, etc.   By the time you hit the throat of a yard,
you have lots of flat dry earth, cinders, and ballast. 

Does anyone have photos or suggestions on how that magical transition really looks?
I usually "taper" the effect, with grassy stuff transitioning to more and more gravel and cinders and dirt.  But is that how
it really is?   Or is there an abrupt border?  Do railroads keep things cleared out along
a definite line near the entrance to the yard?

(Yes, there are lots of photos of yards around, but really finding one that shows how the foliage transitions
turns out to be harder than I thought).

Thank you for any and all advice.

[learmoia]

From what I recall off the top of my head.... either the yard is surrounded by local industry so the transition happened further out... or.... The transition occurs based on property lines.. divided by a road or fence... so the transition could be very abrupt..   local.live.com Birdseye view would help determine what's appropriate for your modeling..  -Ian

[Chris333]

No pics, but you have to think of how and when it was built. Once it was cleared and cinders were laid down I guess the edge would be nice and sharp. But over time it would start getting overgrown and taken over.

Like edging around landscaping in the yard. If I left it go for a few years it wouldn't be such a sharp edge anymore. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Here's a good example:
http://binged.it/TBNxmW

But I think it's also era dependent. In the steam era, cinders did a good job of brush control.

Here are few good ones from Shorpy:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/5663
http://www.shorpy.com/node/1605
http://www.shorpy.com/node/3284

[mmagliaro]

Thanks guys!  Those shots of Proviso were particularly helpful.  You can see that the yard is all flat, dirt, cinders, and track, and just off to the right of the tracks, it's just plain old grass.  So yes, it looks like you would expect.  The railroad
comes in there, clears and bulldozes, and things are pretty sharply delineated between "yard" and the surrounding terrain.

And of course, a color shot of a steam-era yard.... THANKS!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If you search for "yard" in Shorpy, you'll find a few more that are pretty pornographic too, but they didn't really show what you were looking for, so I didn't link them.

Enjoy!