Hi, I’m new here. I know a lot of people paint their track on the sides of the rails. Seeing layouts on the magazine they look great. But I’ve noticed several layouts that look like they have the top of their rails colored as well. I’m wondering how they color the top of the rails without interfering with the conductivity of the track.
Gidday, Welcome to the Forum.
Unless they’re staging the photo and going for the look of seldom used track, painting the top of rails is a BIG No No!! For precisely the reason you’ve given, conductivity, or in the case of painted/dirty rail, lack therof!
If you care to look through the Forum, there are a number of threads regarding track cleaning, here’s a couple…
https://forum.trains.com/t/track-cleaning/165516
https://forum.trains.com/t/track-cleaning-strategy/238321
Cheers, the Bear. 
Someone help my failing memory if needed, but I seem to recall some years back that micro engineering or somebody offered “weathered” flex track. The rail came pre-colored by some chemical process of some kind. A friend of mine bought some sections of it. My memory of it is that it really didn’t look that good when you held it in your hand, but it might’ve looked good on the layout. He never used it and tried to sell it to me, but I didn’t want it. It ended up going on eBay.
Unless, as Patrick_Flory suggested, there’s some kind of chemical coloring, then it likely is not painted. Nor would I recommend that anyone paint the top of their rails. Chemical coloring is a likely thing, though, and is actually quite common in O gauge three rail–the third rail is frequently blackened to make it less noticeable.
Yes, I have HOn3 track that was like that new. The track is brown, plastic, not painted. The track is brownish, including the top, but you need to scrub the surface for good conductivity. It looks chemically treated.
Simon
Micro Engineering’s product is Rail Weathering Solution. I have used it and it works. I had weathered HOn3 track and also a bottle of the solution, so I bought non-weathered track when I needed more so I could use the solution. Keep working at the rail with a brush and it will soon look like their weathered track.
Thanks for the info.
Rich
Micro Engineering weathered code 83:
Hello, could you cite some examples from recent magazines?
Model Railroader January 2026 page 36 & 37, February page 50. It’s hard to see but the tops of the rails are not shiny like most tracks look. I don’t know if their doctored to look that way for the photo or it’s lighting and the way it’s photographed. But I have noticed many photos look like that.
It’s worth noting that, if a section of track is in any kind of regular use, the tops of the rails will be shiny.
And often not across the whole width of the railhead, but toward the gauge corners.
And the tops of disused rail are reddish-brown, not the usual conductive-coating blacks.
And the sides of the rails are more reddish-brown than black, too – except for the thin black line of shadow usually visible in the web below the ball of the railhead.
My memory agrees on pre-weathered track from Micro
Rail colors depend on railroad. Looking at UP West sides are dark brown to almost black in places. OTOH, DB rail sides often seem a rust color in many areas.
Different rail steels can weather to different colors, and sometimes climate or presence of curve lubrication has an influence.
Yes! Especially rail lube as I see here on UP at a crossover.