When painting the rails what colours do you use for main lines and sidings?
On the mains, I brush a light coat of Floquil “rust” on the outside of the rails and then another light coat of Floquil ‘grimy black’ to simulate grease, road dirt, etc.
For sidings, I use a bit more of the ‘grimy black’ than the rust, some of the rust can go on the insides of the rails as well, but I usually don’t paint the insides.
I think it would be great if there were a way to color the railheads without reducing the conductivity to the locomotives. If anyone knows of such a way, I’d like to know about it.
I use Floquil Brunswick green or rail brown but mostly the green. I think the brown draws attention to the side of the rail whereas the green (almost black) hides the side and when light hits it looks more like grease. To each his own however.
Wow, finally I have to give up that I do (on occasions) use spray paint! The ties and both sides of the rails get painted roof brown on my lay-out. After this is dry, I go back with a light gray, grimy black and dark tan and bru***hese colors on random ties. I also take some water thinned rusty acrylic color and every now and then paint the rail sides with this making sure to blend this rustiness into the rail brown. Guard rails on bridges and at switches are painted with the rusty color also. In some locations I also take grimy black and paint down the center between the rails to look like grease and oil drippings from locos.
Before I layed my track, I airbrushed Floquil roof brown, a little oxide red, and grimey black on the ties and railsides. Then I cleaned the railheads and rail ends so they conduct electricity.