Weathering track

I just bought a gallon of paint at Menards. I have a lot of track to do.

 

The color is called Potting Soil. I had purchased some weathered track from a forum member, and was just trying to match the color he had used. It was a pretty good guess, because it was only a half a shade off.

 

I used a cheap Badger single action airbrush...

 

and blasted everything, rails, ties and roadbed.

 

It makes a huge difference!!!

 

Others do it differently, but this works for me.

There have been dozens of posts/threads on the OGR Scenery Forum as well as here on the 3-Raol 027 Trains Forum, so you might try the search feature.

 

Basically, I sprayed all my Atlas track after it was laid, with a Rustoleum "Charcoal green" spray can. I have since discovered that that specific color is no longer available, however close substitutes are available. Since I model in the late 1940s thru mid 1950s steam & early diesel era, I wanted my track to look like the "old days". Just my opinion, please do not spray your dusty red, as real railroad track in daily use is certainly "rusty red". 

That looks like Floquil rail brown.It actually is more greenish than brown.

Rob

What I used testors brown and there thinner I mixed it close to 1/2 &1/2 it will be thin but it came out good and I used a cheap paint brush for models

"Weathering" to me is using chalks, etc. in a diorama setting.

 

I painted Gargraves track to get rid of the shiny tinplate; used Floquil "Rust Brown," undiluted, and applied with a hobby brush in a width that provided near perfect coverage of the web between the GG rail head and top of the crossties.

Doug,

After much experimentation, I began to use railroad weathering pens.

E-mail me tomorrow and I will get you the info. They come in three packs.

so easy to use.

Eliot

We all have color preferences and mine was rattle can rust-oleum earth brown camo for the affect I wanted.  Initially I had I left the Atlas ties the stock color and used colored pens to try and achieve weathered rails but the rust color was only marginally better than silver rail sides.  So, I painted my track and rails earth brown and I am happy with it.  I have read that others have used floquil rail brown with great success.

In any event, if you decide to use rattle can paints as I did on track that was already laid, ventilate the inside area very well.  If you paint the track before you lay it, (which should have done) paint on a day with no breeze in the back yard on big pieces of cardboard.  

I found that using the Rust-Oleum camo brown as a base color and then following up with the weathering pens and chalks produced a look I was very happy with.  The reality is there are tons of different ways of doing this and a huge variety of products out there to complete the job.  I would suggest taking a look at as many photos here as you can and experiment a little on your own to see what "looks" right to you.

 

This is a photo of just the basic camo brown...

 

 

Chris,

 

Did the same thing. I'm ballasting in the next several weeks and will add my weathering chalks. The camo brown produces a perfect brown. Nice shots BTW.

Dennis Brennan's book details a step by step which is commonly used by people here on the forum. He used Camo brown spray cans, and I airbrushed mine. Which ever way you choose, just painting alone makes a world of difference compared to those shiny silver rails. Just look at Elliot's pix above.

Thanks for the input.