For the border of the train quilt I am making for my dad I was thinking of "train tracks" here are the fabrics I was thinking on using. The gray laying crosswise is the "tracks" the brown is for the wood "tressels" and the other grey is for the "rock".

My main concern is keeping the "Wood" consistant for side to side so it dosen't get off set and stays straight across the three strips

What do you think?

you're on the right track...LOL

IDK if this would work or not, but you could just sew the strips across of wood metal wood metal ect. and then cut the same amount off of each side so you know it's the correct placement and sew your wood down the longer strip, then when you go to put on the outside, line up the center seam and pin the seam together and at the edge of the brown. does that sense?

Looks like a good combination. You could sew the brown and grey strips together forming the length you want for your border. Then you can do one of 2 things, place the silver strip on top and sew it down or applique it in place OR cut your strips into 3 and sew the silver strip in place. Option 1 eliminates possible problems, I think. Hope this helps. :-D

i think it would be great

I did this, I strip piecing. then used grey bias tape for the rails, I will pm you pictures

I hope this shows up, I sewed 5 strips of cream and 5 stips of brown together then cut them to 4 inches sewed them together to make a long stip of veritcal strips, then sewed a 2 inch piece on both sides. then added 1/2 inch single fold grey bias tape for the rails. first glued in place then sewn 1/8 inch down both sides of the tape on my machine...in the second pic you can see the border on each side of the wood parts, I used that seam to as a guide line for the rails. I layed my ruler down so the 1 inch line was on the seam then I layed the bias tape along the edge of the ruler and glued it down working about 18 inches at a time. Then when the glue was dry I sewed the rails in place.

Thanks for the ideas

cant wait to see it finished

i'm thinking that you might want to cut the brown and grey strips and sew them together in a big long strip. Then you have 2 options:
1) slice the strip and sew in a silver strip perpendicular to the others. I think this is what you are thinking and wondering how to keep the rails in line so you could try option 2:
2) Make a tube out of the silver, don't cut the other strip and just sew it down on the first strip like applique'. This way everything will line up, just like you 'nailed down the rails' !

Love your fabric choices :D:D:D
I like the idea of making strip sets, everything will stay lined up very nicely :D:D:D

Perfect!

A super idea for Dad's quilt.

That looks like great fabric for what you are doing. I can't wait to see it.