Hello everyone. For my layout, I wanted to add a short abandoned line. Obviously, the track I used needed to be rusty, so I am trying a odd method. For this, I am leaving a few pieces of Fastrack outside in the rain (Philadelphia is getting some storms, so this is a good time to do this), and am going to let it sit for 3-5 days. I will post day by day results here. Enjoy!
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Just put it face down in a pan of granular chemical ice melt. Shouldn't take long at all - couple days.
I believe OGR forum member Lee Willis had a mis-adventure cleaning Fastrack with Simply Green. You may want to search for his thread on the subject to see if his undesired results are in line with what you are attempting to create, err deconstruct. That is if it doesn't rust from the rain.
I did the same thing only with tubular...put it in a pot of water outside. Worked great.
You can kind of see it in these photos on my old layout (gone 2 years now)...I didn't want it totally rusted so I didn't leave it in the pot of water more than a few days. I then roughed it up with ballast, trees, bushes, etc.
IN the center, to the left of the boxcar on the siding.
Bottom Center. This sole piece was the original abandoned track. When I expanded the layout, the above section was added as a "true" abandoned railroad. That spot was the curve when the layout was an oval so it really was "abandoned"!
I've got a lot of abandoned RRs in my area and have always been fascinated by them. I'm sure you'll be happy with the results in your project. Please keep us updated, I'd like to see your abandoned railroad!
Be careful !!
Brent
I inadvertantly left some fastrack out on a railing for a week or two after a for sale photo shoot. It rained a fair amount.
IMO one could do far better with a combination of weathering paint markers. The fastrack doesn't rust evenly ( as silly as that sounds), it pits with rust really bad and mostly just on the top. The sides stayed silver.
Maybe things like the salt mentioned above would give a more complete covering of rust.
I live on the coast of Maine and Fastrack rusts in my house. It rusts faster than the tube track I have. Rust and noise are the reasons I haven't switched to it.
Hi everyone! Sorry I did not post an update yesterday, but there was nothing different. But today, that is a different story. You can't see it too well in the overview picture, but in the second, you can see that one rail has developed a fair amount of rust! Another rail, is getting started, like the others.
IMO one could do far better with a combination of weathering paint markers.
I agree with Rick on this .
I will go further thinking big mistake running a engine back and forth over that junk. Just me, good luck with the plan.
Larry
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