Which paint colour for rails and chairs

[Ruston 48DS]

Can anyone advice me on what colour the rails and chairs of tracks should be painted. 

I know this has probably been asked many times but any advice will be helpful. 

[Monkersson]

A blast over with Halfords Camo Brown is a good basecoat, then build up from there.

 

There is no standard colour as local conditions generally dictate the condition/appearance of the trackwork

[Il Grifone]

Basically it's rust colour, so some sort of mid-brown. Older track (as in sidings) is likely to be a bit darker.

Not a problem in modern Italy all the track is painted white. I gather the idea is to reduce expansion due to heat. We have needed it in the last week or two

[Steamport Southport]

A rust colour always seems to work. With a bit of track colour, which is also useful for sleepers.

 

Most model railway paint manufacturers make both (often in choice of enamel or acrylic).

 

Just make sure you don't get any into anything that conducts electricity or needs to be smooth for running trains. Especially your points and crossings.

 

And wipe the tops and inner edge of the rails.

 

 

Jason

[hayfield]

Looking at the prototype, when laid new the colour differential is quite distinctive especially when the rails start to rust, but then overtime everything including ballast seems to be covered with the same coloured grime. When I start to paint my track I will pick out the different colours then airbrush a grime colour over everything. I think the trick is to have a subtle translucent overall colour  

[ISW]

14 hours ago, Ruston 48DS said:

Can anyone advice me on what colour the rails and chairs of tracks should be painted. 

I know this has probably been asked many times but any advice will be helpful. 

I've found that Vallejo 70.941 (burnt umber) with a trace of 70.950 () gives a good representation. Just add the black to 'taste', darken, as required for the application (darker in sidings and almost black in depots).

Ian

[doilum]

On one club layout I spent many Monday evenings with a variety of Humbrol colours hand painting the rail sides, individual chairs and sleepers. Then someone came along with an air brush and tin of Precision track gunge and covered over the whole caboodle.

The result was superb. From two metres away it was one homogeneous expanse, close up there was just a hint of my handiwork showing through to create localised variations.

[Oldddudders]

10 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Just make sure you don't get any into anything that conducts electricity or needs to be smooth for running trains. Especially your points and crossings.

 

And wipe the tops and inner edge of the rails.

A wipe of oil on the railhead - the merest trace -  beforehand will ensure no paint can adhere, but as above, a wipe afterwards is essential.

[97406]

I used a mix of bauxite and frame dirt in varying proportions. I then found a mislaid pot of sleeper grime that also got put in the mix later on. All Railmatch acrylics.

[Pete the Elaner]

4 hours ago, hayfield said:

Looking at the prototype, when laid new the colour differential is quite distinctive especially when the rails start to rust, but then overtime everything including ballast seems to be covered with the same coloured grime. When I start to paint my track I will pick out the different colours then airbrush a grime colour over everything. I think the trick is to have a subtle translucent overall colour  

 

I completely agree.

Take a close look at track you want to represent. Track goes a rusty colour long before it is laid. It is not Humbrol's 'rust' though. That is way too bright. It is a brown rust.

Then once laid, the rust colour gets washed a little onto fixings & baseplates or chairs.

It then gets a coating of brake dust, starting between the rails.

It looks very different from platform level than the angle we are used to viewing layouts.

I was at Roade last weekend so photographed the WCML track from a high bridge (but still lower than the layout viewing perspective). I found it interesting to see all 4 lines weathered differently where they had obviously been renewed at different times. This is not at all unusual either.

[doilum]

Whilst an air brush is a useful tool there is much to recommend the use of a dirty paint wash as this replicates the prototype. Deposits from exhaust, brakes and oil drips are distributed by rain water staining the ballast. Matt black is an essential part of the pallatte.

[SM42]

I use a base of Tamiya Nato Brown over Halfords grey primer

 

Subtle variations added by dry brushing. 

 

Andy

[97406]

4 hours ago, doilum said:

Whilst an air brush is a useful tool there is much to recommend the use of a dirty paint wash as this replicates the prototype. Deposits from exhaust, brakes and oil drips are distributed by rain water staining the ballast. Matt black is an essential part of the pallatte.

You have a point. I missed that off my post above, but there was a little black in the mix too.

 

Though on reflection…..black! https://youtu.be/wj84tfS7ag4 

 

[MoonMonkey]

If it's any help, I've been using Humbrol enamel 186 for the rail sides and shoes.  This was suggested by a model shop and seems to work ok for me.  I did find that if the enamel paint is opened and left too long, or once you use a fair amount from the tin, it starts to go more gloopy which means less definition to the tracks.  So I've been buying a new tin each time I get round to painting some more track. I painted on with a brush, and did the shoes att he same time.  

The photo shows work in progress.  The nearest line is just the 186.  The further line has been ballasted and the dust that the ballast creates tones it down a bit.  I may give it a light going over with dust-coloured MIG weathering  powder as well (followed by Humbrol spray varnish) to bring it all together.  

FYI, The sleepers were painted before the track sides were done, using a base of a Humbrol enamel khaki brown-ish paint (I can't recall the number), then acrylic applied with an artists sponge with various colours of black, then leather brown, then shades of grey.  

[MoonMonkey]

Here are a couple more, showing the colour of the 186...

In the image with 3 lines, the far side track is just the 186, albeit probably with light dust applied weathering powder applied and the dust from the ballast, and locked on with the spray varnish.  The nearer 2 lines are glooped so ignore those.  

Also, if you get around the Halloween people, have a look at the left half of the other photo.  This shows the 186, I think without weathering powder applied.  However, what I did was trail (using a thin paint brush) a trail of Humbrol dark brown wash over the ballast/sleepers in a thin line immediately next to the rails.  This probably had some impact on the shade of rust.  I was happy with it though. 

Hopefully that helps. 

[Singapore Flange]

On 26/08/2021 at 06:57, Il Grifone said:

Not a problem in modern Italy all the track is painted white

sorry if this is the wrong area to ask, first day on RM.

 

In the UK, track in certain areas is painted white to moderate track expansion.  Does anyone know when this practice started, I've searched all over the place but no luck!

 

I'm a UK modeller 70s-80s is my era.  Hope someone can help 

[Covkid]

2 hours ago, Singapore Flange said:

sorry if this is the wrong area to ask, first day on RM.

 

In the UK, track in certain areas is painted white to moderate track expansion.  Does anyone know when this practice started, I've searched all over the place but no luck!

 

I'm a UK modeller 70s-80s is my era.  Hope someone can help 

I don't go out on trains very often but became aware of pointwork being painted white, on the former Western Region at least a decade ago. That was around Cardiff and Reading. Presume it is more widespread these days. 

[31A]

3 hours ago, Singapore Flange said:

sorry if this is the wrong area to ask, first day on RM.

 

In the UK, track in certain areas is painted white to moderate track expansion.  Does anyone know when this practice started, I've searched all over the place but no luck!

 

I'm a UK modeller 70s-80s is my era.  Hope someone can help 

 

I remember seeing it on the pointwork at King's Cross when I commuted to there, about 20 years ago.  I think it was quite a new thing then, just done in places where expansion was prone to causing points failures etc.  Just the blades of the points etc were painted at that time.

 

[whart57]

I find Railmatch Sleeper Grime is a good colour for wood sleepers, at least as the uniform base colour. I end up mixing various versions of Humbrol "rust" together for chairs and rail sides. My UK prototype examples are a redder rust than my Thai layout. I'm not sure if the tropical climate induces some mould growth but my memory and my photographs suggest a much blacker colour on railsides than in Europe.

 

Spilled oil, brake dust and other assorted gunge means there should be variations, particularly in station areas. Mixing colours on a palette as you go does mean some variation happens randomly anyway.

 

As an aside, avoid black when mixing colours. Only where you have actual carbon to be represented - coal dust, ash, oil sludge - should you use black. Darken colours with a mix of earthy red and green and possibly a dark blue.