Should I Weather Some of my Trains?

Pretty much everything I have is weathered, including my whole layout.

I changed the title to give more a meaning.

Much better post littleevan  I been wanting to for a long time but still chicken. It seems to me that I could make a big mess. I'm interested on the remarks from others that have done it.

These are my most likely to get weathered.

I've only weathered one.  I was going to weather one more that I rescued from junk, but once I got done bringing it back I couldn't bring myself to weather it. I enjoyed doing it, I like the engine, I like how it came out, but I don't know if I'll do another.

 

 

I want to weather most of mine. There are just a few Lionel pieces that would be better off not. Every time I see well done weathered pieces on eBay, they seem to go for more than unweathered.

 

Learn to do it well, and it could even be a money maker.

YES!!! You should!!! Like others...everything

will be weathered on my layout!!!

 

Evan,

 

This is a question that only you can answer.

 

Most 3 railers prefer the colorful, attractive, toy look. A minority prefer the realistic weathered look, generally to match the scenery on the railroad. 

 

Neither is right or wrong, it's what you like.

I agree with David, it is your railroad and do what you like. I have quite a few weathered cars but have not weathered an engine yet. Just can't bring myself to do a steam engine, yet.

I have seen some of the best weathering in the hobby.  I think it looks great, but I have yet to weather equipment myself beyond a few cars.  This is a personal decision.

Whether to weather or not?

'Tis the question you've got.

Some will say yea!

Some will say nea!

Some will not care quite a lot.

 

I know one thing for sure: as soon as one weathered piece hits the track, the rest will look non-prototypical and at that point, to have a decision to make and it's a BIG one:  All or nothing!!!

 

rebuttal?

 

 

 

 

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. I've seen plenty of clean cars mixed into trains. 

I am one of those that prefer to leave them alone.  I like the shiny new look.  But I do like the weathered look.  Just not on mine. 

 

You'll be sorry! You'll be lucky to get one-half the market value should you want to sell the pieces. Just a thought. It's your railroad, do want you want.

Personally, I wouldn't for the following reason:

 

If your fleet is postwar, then I would advise not weathering the cars because then you will have ruined any value the cars may have had.  However, if these cars are only a few years old, it'll be a while before they would be worth anything anyway.  Just be sure to make sure that you are weathering cars that are not of any value past  the MRSP of the car.

 

Of course, they are your trains, and I may cringe if some good old postwar cars are weathered, but it is your layout, so it is completely up to you.

 

Happy model railroading!

I would get some old rolling stock or even find some cheap then practice on them. When you have something you like then go to the engine or rolling stock you want to do.

Try it on a junker first. If you like the look then let it rip!!

I think if you look at modern O scale trains as 'investment grade purchase' you are in the wrong hobby. Look at the secondary market today.....just about anything mass produced since the MPC era is going for less than MSRP.  The number of us in the hobby now and the number that might be in 30 years......supply and demand say they will be even cheaper then weathered or not!!! Just IMHO only.

If that is what you want then go for it.  I would buy some cheap ho scale cars and practice on them first.

 

Paul

Most of my O-gauge trains are vintage items, naturally "weathered" by age and 40+ years of handling. I don't choose to modify their natural condition. In some cases I work to remove excessive rust.

 

I see enough filth in the real world so I'm not keen about adding it to my trains.

Nothing in my small fleet had been weathered. But, my son gave me two PRR composite hoppers for Christmas that he bought from Weaver. Knowing that I like dirty, old coal operations, he had Weaver weather them.

 

Here are the catalog stock photo of the "Buy War Bonds" hoppers he gave me .... showing clean vs weathered. I hooked on weathering now!

 

Thinking of getting a cheap airbrush and doing my hopper fleet.

 

My 2 simple rules –

 

1. If you put fourth the effort; the items chosen should lean toward true O scale containing the correct details like products from Atlas O, Weaver and MTH Premier with some newer Lionel O.

No traditional stuff except for some choice S-scale Plasticville items for the backgrounds.

2. If the rolling stock is weathered, all the other layout items like track, buildings and autos should follow.

 

For the most part, engines and cabooses were kept in better condition than the often abused box cars throughout the years unless chapter 11 was near.

 

Unfortunately most of us have been stuck in 3r for decades but if you are just starting out and serious, 2r is the way to model.

As for old traditional trains, except for a few items, there’s not much market resale value anymore. Just keep the shiny toys as they were intended to be.

 

If you need ideas, all the research has been done.

There are a few thousand photos and some new videos on the links below as examples.

 

Best of luck Weathering!

 

 

 

 

I bought a set of chalks at Michaels Arts and Crafts a while back and tried them out on a single boxcar and thought it worked fine.

 

The set I got was Loew Cornell 312, contains 48 pastel chalks.

 

I rubbed/brushed them on and that's it, I don't seal anything.  If I happen to get a fingerprint on the car I simply re-apply the chalk.  If I want to clean it off, give the car a bath.

 

Unless you've got some pristine old piece that you KNOW is worth $$$, I'd do what Steve (aka SIRT) recommended and weather newer, more prototypical items.  He's pretty much shown he is a master craftsman when it comes to weathering.

 

The one thing I have no need to weather are passenger cars or engines.  IMO they should ALWAYS look like they just came out  of the wash.  I saw a photo of a real Seaboard E7 that looked like someone had applied paint to it with a whitewash brush.  The paint looked flat, peeling, and chalky, just looked awful to be at the head of a passenger train.  That's what deferred maintenance will get you

I like Chris' idea of a few practice pieces first. Also recommend using chalks so you can easily remove if you change your mind or want to sell later.

I'm with Bob......My Hiawatha, C&O Turbine, SRR Crescent E-8  and other Name trains will remain clean....if to provide contrast if nothing else.

I have been weathering cars and locomotives on my layout for a couple of years now.  It does make everything look more realistic, especially if the track and other scenery is also weathered.  I have done everything from severe neglect weathering to fresh from the factory.  Even brand new freight cars have dirty trucks and rusted couplers.  I just drybrush rust on the couplers and truck side frames.  A little earth drybrushed on the side frames also brings out the details.  If only the trucks are weathered, they can be swapped out with new ones if you want to sell the car.

 

Tom

This topic comes up quite often on this forum. It's a personal choice, based on type of layout, type of equipment, and your skill level. I weather some of my stuff, not all of it, just depends on what it is. All I can say is DON'T make your decision based on what it will do to the resale value of your trains. They are your trains, like a new car, we don't buy them for what we can get out of them when we are done with them. Do what you want with your trains!

Thanks for the replies, I never did it before because people always told me it ruined the value and nobody really did it in 3-Rail O. I have some cheap traditional stuff I could practice on from a 2008 starter set. I really want do only do it to a few pieces, to give them a new worn down look for my new industrial seaside layout, as that is the theme I'm shooting for when I'm done.

But I forgot to say I don't plan on selling anything, I bought in the first place since I liked it, why would I sell it?

In my opinion, weathering devalues trains, so it's not for me.

Some people are willing to pay very steep prices for customed weathered equipment, in 2 rail or 3 rail. Cars that cost between $40-$80 sell for $100-$300+ after they are weathered.

What "value" are you talking about? I don't know about the rest of you folks, but I don't purchase ANYTHING based upon its "future value"! Being a model railroader, I purchase what I like and what fits into the steam era, mid 1950s, time frame that I model. I up-grade everything to Kadee couplers, and everything gets weathered based on prototype photos. That is the "value" to me!

I'm pondering this also.  I have some cheap (disposable) O-27 cars to practice on.

 

You might also watch Eric Siegle (Is that spelled right?) of Eric's trains on YouTube.  

 

Just do what you like and don't fret over value.

I most definitely want to weather my equipment, even though though much of what I have and much of what I want is traditional sized.  The hard part is figuring out the proper weathering patterns for heavily used but well-maintained equipment.  By the way, here's an odd question to ponder: If I use a Conrail GP38 on a 1930s/40s steam-era layout, would it's weathering pattern be any different than in real life in the modern era?

 

Aaron

Here are some pics of my Lionel Northern Pacific 0-8-0, with some minor tweaks.

 

Regards,

GNNPNUT

 

 

 

 

Heaven help me for adding my "controversial" opinion. 

 

How long have you been in the hobby? How long have you been reading the forum?

 

There is a lot to see here, and perhaps a natural tendency to see something and say "That's neat - I should do that" or to feel the opinions of those who move to a self-perceived higher level and because there is so much "you're 'less than' if you're not doing this or that."

 

I've watched many of these circumstances develop over time.

 

Over the course of the past few years, a fellow had a layout and was running three rail O-Gauge trains. And then he started to gravitate to the current offerings didn't suit his needs as to road name. He followed the moaning and groaning of other "esteemed" forum members about prototypical inaccuracy and he took some pretty nice equipment and repainted it all to a couple of less than mainstream road names. Being his first shot at it, the work was "ok" quality wise. Of course there were details more experienced modelers complained about, and he had to complain about them too, so he started hacking away and adding details and doing a "just ok" job of it.

 

Then following the condescending complaints about "lobster claw" couplers and swinging pilots" he decided 3RS had to be the thing for him, because who would want to be branded as a "toy train" "roundy round" hobbyist.

 

So the revered "Kadee Couplers" come into play and dozens of posts about the mostest bestest "Kadee's" and how to install them and more cutting and hacking and look at me, I'm elite now.

 

But, the trains aren't weathered, so let's get some chalks and this and that and weather the poop out of them. All of this stuff is art, and just because you have chalk doesn't mean you're going to be able to do it with realism. So he weathers the whole fleet and it look kinda sorta ok.

 

But man oh man, I see people talking a lot about that middle rail, and that's just not realistic, Ok - to be a real model railroader, I've got to go 2 Rail. More cutting and hacking and cobbling and now you've got a bunch of poorly modified equipment that is sub-par at best even for the original user.

 

But now, the realization has come - you really can't be a real model railroader in "O."

 

HO! - That's the answer!

 

So all the poorly modified, obscure road name, marginally weathered equipment is For Sale with few if any takers at scrap value and at some point the enthusiasm wanes and another bunch of "stuff" goes into boxes in the garage.

 

Point being, the forums are an invaluable resource but you can't get too caught up in everything you see or your focus just goes out the window.

 

Weathering trains is an art, and there might be a dozen people on this forum who do it with excellence. And there are probably hundreds who do it somewhere between poorly and just ok. 

 

Before you make any decisions about going down some certain road. Step back and let that idea sit for a while. Lava lamps, disco and platform shoes and leisure suits didn't take off because people took their time and made an informed decision - they just got caught up in the wave and acted on impulse.

 

As for "Should I weather my trains?", you should do what you think is how you're going to get enjoyment out of the hobby. Because in the end, you're in your spare room running trains by yourself or with family members who don't give a hoot about whether they're weathered.

 

PS: Jerry there - he's one of the dozen.

 

Nice work Jerry.

Actually, some people have a different view. Me personally, I don't buy any trains that I think will lose more than 10% of the value if I decide to move on to something else and sell. 

 

Being a Model Railroader, I purchase what I like that I think will hold it's value and don't modify anything. That's the value to me.

 

It doesn't make me right and your approach doesn't make you right. It just means we approach the same great hobby from two different angles and both enjoy it with equal satisfaction. It read so much on these forums about what people "should" be doing and "should never" be doing. If there were hard and fast rules, all of our trains and layouts would look the same.

 

Thankfully, there are none.

 

I had three fellow hobbyists visit my house yesterday. One is a two railer, one is a tinplate/standard gauge guy, one is a post war lots of accessories guy and I'm somewhat of a layout realism guy. Four different people. Four different approaches - none more correct or better than the other. The only thing our philosophies had in common is we all like trains and train layouts.

 

We had a ball.

I have somehow ended up with "sections" to my layout. Just evolved that way. I have a weatherd town, a new town, a post war section...on and on. I love all area equally well. I have a partially weathered yard also. The hodge poge works for me. Visitors all have an area they can identify with. There is simply no right or wrong way to do a layout. Whateveyo makes you happy. I never justify my work...it is what it is.