Why Paint Rail "Rust"?

Couldn't agree more! Just painted 100+ feet of rail this afternoon. A mix of rail brown, railroad tie brown, and some grimy black. Nothing out here is rusty....you have to have water to create rust, and we all know how much water we get.

 

 

Time to ballast! Where's Dennis Brennan anyway? Probably getting ready for York

These are recent photo of the rails for the Mainline tracks of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad in Michigan.

 

What is this color?

 

 

Rail brown lol

It is most likely Muddy Brown.

 

Rust is closer to orange.

 

Andrew

Do you paint the center rail or leave it black?

We paint the center rail so it all blends in. Tried leaving it black but didn't like the way it looked, stuck out like a sore thumb.

WOW! I don't know what to say? I would bet, you haven't been around here much?

LOS

 

That looks great. Was that done with spray can paint or an air brush?

Even if he hasn't been around the OGR Forums much, that still doesn't mean he is incorrect. Having been "around the real railroads" pretty much all my life, "rusty/red" rail is generally associated with unused or new rail. Rail that has been "in service" and heavily used, such as main line rail, tends to accumulate that brownish color in today's modern world of real railroading. 

 

Back in the "old days" of steam and oil lubricated plain bearing equipped rilling stock, the sides of the rails tended to have a dark "greenish" coating, due to all the journal oil (which was indeed green color) which dripped out of everything.

 

I must admit that some folks that spray, or brush, paint the sides of their train tracks red, sure makes them look toy-like in my opinion.

HW, it was more of a crack on the good life those "guys" have out in the Southwest. I was in AZ for awhile and looked at many cars. Their biggest issue working on cars is getting the dirt off of bolts! Up here, we have to torch almost everything anytime a bolt needs to be removed under our cars. Rust goes after everything.

 It does appear more of a brownish color even to me!

 

John it was airbrushed yesterday. The last of my Floquil track paint. Rail brown, railroad tie brown, and a little grimy black. Thinned with paint thinner and sprayed about 25psi.

LOS:

 

VERY nice looking trackwork.  Looking forward to seeing it ballasted. 

 

Save yourself a few bucks.  Go get some play sand.  Build up the profile and fill in the ties just below the top.  THEN sprinkle on that great looking Brennan's ballast. 

 

There ya have it, your Bohemian money saving tip for the day. 

 

I do this even with my HO projects, and did it on all of my three rail projects.  I was using Woodland Scenics product though.

 

Regards,

Jerry

 

Rust 'weathers' folks, it darkens with age.

Krylon or Rustoleum Camo Brown is the perfect color for rail.

For the modern "diesel" era, I fully agree. Our layout however is modeled in the early 1950s, i.e. big steam, and thus the rails/track is all weathered with a Rustoleum "charcoal green" color. The green journal oil from all those plain bearing freight cars and steam locomotives soaked the rail sides heavily, giving it that greenish tint.

Yep - camo brown, either of the above brands.

 

Not all track is this color - some is "browner", but it will do in most situations (deserts, not as much; more grayish, typically). 

 

But those spray cans of "oxide red" or "rust" - no, no - that's orange.

 

Spray Camo brown; GarGraves:

 

Just did NJ Hi Railers roundhouse tracks with a combination of Krylon red primer and leather brown. Looks nice and grimy like the old NYS&W Little Ferry roundhouse did.

Next comes all the spills..........

Yep, we need to come up with a range of paint colours. Let's start with "Fresh Rust" and "Weathered Rust" 

Do you have a picture of it?  I'm interested....