Kind of a funny story. I learned to fix post war trains a long time ago for a friend who had a hobby shop. We got ourselves approved as a Lionel service center. Well my day job involves me wearing a suit and tie while I drive around selling. SO occasionally I would stop by the shop and say hi and he would say: "Look at this engine for me... You have your train fixing tie on!" So I would carefully do a repair and not get my suite filthy!
But At home, when fixing trains that are dirty, I wear the Apron attached. Credit to my wife for sewing on the patches and Still looking for an MTH Cloth patch. Can't seem to find any yet!!
