Those of you who paint rails and you know who you are, do you paint both sides of the rails or just outside, I have heard different schools of thought with the conductivity problems etc. what do you think?
OK, I’ll go first.
My first step is to spraypaint the entire track, so inside and outside plus ties. I use a thin coating of oil on the TOP of the rails and on points. This usually wipes right off after the paint dries.
I add further detail to the ties and Visible sides of the rails with a brush. This is often just one rail on the outside and one on the inside.
Conductivity is not and should not be a problem as long as the upper surface (and inner top, I guess) are paint free. On turnouts the points should also make non obstructed contact with the inner sides of the rails.
Karl
I only paint by hand after the rails are in place and ballasted, and after the ballast is itself weathered. I like the grime/rust to look like it does in real tracks…migrated with water and gravity down onto tie plates and the wood and ballast nearest them.
I may be characterized as lazy, but I only paint what can be seen, or what would reasonably be expected to be seen. I figure what I don’t have to use in time, effort, material, and tools is the best approach for me. When I photograph, I usually take note of glaring errors, and bare rail would be one that stands out for me.
I paint the whole thing too. (rails, ties and all.) I found some Rustoleum flat brown and Krylon flat Camouflage earth brown spray paint. The two colors are good for main line and older looking branch line. This is a lot cheaper than using 1oz. bottles of airbrush paint. You can weather it with chalks after you ballast.
I’m experimenting right now brush painting Neo-Lube (from MicroMark catalogue) on both sides of the rails. Dries to a nice dark gray finish - and it conducts electricity so you don’t have to worry about it if a little does get on the top of the rail. In fact, on sidings, might look good to cover the entire rail.
I brush paint my track. For the most part, I only paint what can be seen. I use the same color for the rail and ties, although I thin the paint slightly for the ties to get some variation in the color.
Nick
I use to paint my rails like this.
I used an old index card [I suppose a stiff business card will do] and ran it along the base of the rail over top of the ties. AT the same time I ran a bruash along the sides of the rails. This way I got the rails and not the ties.
I would paint only what i could see most times.
I also took a piece of basswood [generally 1/4 inch square about 4 inches long] and ran it over the tops of the rail the next day or a few hours later, to clean the rails. I would not run the trains until the paint “cured”. This can take a day or longer depending on the paint.
Another way I use to do it was to run a paint brush over the rails before I laid them down. I hand lay my track. But because I wasn’t always careful, the paint would come off. Mostly because of oils in my hands I suppose. If I washed the rails first it would have adhered better I am sure.
Anyhow, that’s my way, but I don’t paint my rails no more though.
I hope that helps 
I also use light oil on the railhead but I try to wipe it off ASAP rather than wait for the paint to dry. I find that a stick of balsa works well and is mildly abrasive but not so abrasive as to scratch the track itself. I use spray cans of red primer alternating with Krylon camoflage flat paints so that I can paint my track outside before I lay it. I paint it curved for the curves otherwise you get shiny little dots when you bend painted track
By the way another technique I have been using lately for touch up work (But it would work for the entire track) are the paint sticks that Testors/Floquil sells in packs of three, one of which is for rail and tie colors. The size of the tip is perfect for track. It is especially useful for turnouts where you need fine control where the points make electrical contact.
Dave Nelson
Not much different from the others. With handlaid track, I brush paint the rail (not all that carefully) - both sides and the rail top with a suitable brown color of Testor’s enamel. Most “rust” colors are way too red according to the prototypes I have observed. First evening, I install any uncoupling ramps, lay ties and ballast, and paint the rail.
Second night is actually spiking rail down. I precurve the painted rail, and attach a feeder to the underside on each piece. After spiking, I slide a piece of wood along the inner rail corner to remove paint there. With DC (I haven’t tried DCC yet), this was/is sufficient for electrical pickup.
At turnouts where I need to solder, I scrape away the paint from the soldering area with some crocus cloth, apply some rosin flux, and have at it. Touch up afterwards with a fine brush and the same paint.
Pretty simple process, and looks a whole lot better than unpainted rail and unballasted track. The only detailing I haven’t done - may try in the future - is detailed painting of ties. Joe Fugate does a great job with this.
my thoughts and experiences, your choices
Fred W
I hand painted the visible rail in my yard after laying and ballasting the track.
I did get one of those foam wheel paint applicators and one of these days I’ll give that a try.
Tilden
Once i have the track down with no ballast I airbrush all of it with Polly scale Railroad tie brown. Then I use a bright boy to remove the paint off the tops of the rail. It comes off real easy.
G’day, Y’all,
I agree with the above Repairman 87’s method. All you have to do is get the shine off the rails; it will blend in with the scenery as if by magic, which of course, all RR scenicking is because the eye expects to see certain things and when those criteria are met the brain is satisfied that this looks real. What is the use of spraying the side of a track which cannot possibly be seen?
After I sprayed on the Floquil Rail Brown, I let it dry. Later, after running my locomotives all over the layout using my 1960s MRC dual control, I noticed that the rails looked too realistic. I had forgotten to Bright Boy off several of the sidings. But my old MRC and my Atlas S4 were never bothered bysomething as insignificant as lack of electrical contact. Then I retired the 40-year old power pack for a brand new MRC Tech4 and suddenly, the train didn’t want to run unless I had just cleaned the track. Go figure! Of course, when it does run, the Tech4 gives great low end speed.
Stix…after two weeks, any problems with your “experiment”?
Seems to work well, if any does slop on top of the rail, it cleans up with a bright boy. At this point I haven’t “fired it up” yet - I’m also hand painting ties so it’s going pretty slow, this is all in preparation for new layout BTW, don’t have anything running yet. It looks good, nice dark flat gray color.