Omar,
You are doing great. I very much appreciate your skill and willingness to share.
For those of you who are interested, there is an amazing website
Railways of Germany. It is my go-to for Teutonic trains.
If you would like to see color photos of mainline steam operating in 1970-71, with some great shots of weathering and the color of track, look here:
Steam on the Mosel 1970 und 1971 You will see that most of the ties are heavily stained with grease and oil, having a satin very dark gray color. In the next section, they are matte and gray. I surmise the shiner ties are in a yard and station track, where the engines set, or work hard:
https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?17,5306198
Track ballast is interesting, you can identify some railroads by the type and quality. (Look up CNW "Pink Lady" ballast, and an intereting book on MOW equipment:
Pink Lady.) Some, at least during some administrations, would haul ballast far to maintain a "company look" of their track. Others would crush and use whatever suitable stone was in the region their track ran through. It appears that much of Germany's ballast is a brown or dark gray.