diff --git a/rendering/opengl46/opengl46renderer.cpp b/rendering/opengl46/opengl46renderer.cpp
index 51ea6633..74a1f62a 100644
--- a/rendering/opengl46/opengl46renderer.cpp
+++ b/rendering/opengl46/opengl46renderer.cpp
@@ -5884,7 +5884,6 @@ void opengl46_renderer::Render_Sleepers( TTrack *Track )
 void opengl46_renderer::Render_Timbers( scene::basic_cell::path_sequence::const_iterator First, scene::basic_cell::path_sequence::const_iterator Last )
 {
 	if( Global.SleeperDistance <= 0.f ) { return; }
-	if( track_sleepers::timber_model() == nullptr ) { return; }
 
 	auto const shadows = ( m_renderpass.draw_mode == rendermode::shadows );
 	// the distance is taken from the camera of the view, the shadow pass culling against its own frustum
diff --git a/world/TrackSleepers.cpp b/world/TrackSleepers.cpp
index 17da0a5f..60ca29d5 100644
--- a/world/TrackSleepers.cpp
+++ b/world/TrackSleepers.cpp
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ bool bedded( TTrack const &Track ) {
 
 bool lays( TTrack const &Track ) {
 
-    return timber_model() != nullptr && bedded( Track );
+    // the model of the track itself (timbermodel) is enough, without sleepers3d in eu07.ini
+    return bedded( Track ) && timber_model( Track ) != nullptr;
 }
 
 std::vector<std::pair<double, double>> shared_zones( TTrack const &Track, int const Path ) {
diff --git a/world/TrackSleepers.h b/world/TrackSleepers.h
index 44074f00..12a3d69a 100644
--- a/world/TrackSleepers.h
+++ b/world/TrackSleepers.h
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ struct laid {
 double constexpr bed_drop { 0.06 };
 
 // the model the timbers are made of where a track has none of its own, set with sleepers3d in eu07.ini and loaded on the first
-// use; null when there's none, and no beams are laid
+// use; null when there's none, and only the tracks with a timbermodel of their own lay beams
 beam_model const *timber_model();
 // the model of the sleepers of the tracks running alone, set with sleepers3dplain; null when there's none
 beam_model const *plain_model();
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ beam_model const *plain_model( TTrack const &Track );
 double plain_length( TTrack const &Track );
 // whether the track has the ballast the simulator makes, which the beams are laid on when there's a model of them
 bool bedded( TTrack const &Track );
-// whether the track gets beams: a rail track with the ballast made by the simulator, and the model is there
+// whether the track gets beams: a rail track with the ballast made by the simulator, and the model is there, its own or of eu07.ini
 bool lays( TTrack const &Track );
 // where along the path of the track its rails lie on timbers shared with other tracks: where another track runs so near that
 // the plain sleepers of the two would touch, of the lengths of the models they'd be made of. this goes by the shape of the