What color do you use for rail painting?

[chuck geiger]

I was gazing with a barley and hop buzz (Budweiser) at the BNSF
mainline on a railfan outing Monday. I noticed that rail here in the
West (at least in Fresno) on The BNSF is a medium brown with a
tint of rust and a purplish hue to it. How in the world other than
Rail Brown and Grimy Black do you manage to replicate that?

[Heath]

I spray bomb floquil roof brown and then weather with chalks and paint washes.

[wm3798]

Burnt umber with craft acrylics, slathered on with a brush, then touched up after ballasting.

Lee

[DKS]

It really depends on the kind of traffic the line has, if it's mainline, siding, what have you. Rail can be any number of colors, from pale grey to vivid rusty brown to grimy black. I find Floquil Roof Brown is a good general starting point, and I'll apply washes of India ink and/or Rust All to create variations.
 


Then you have the ties to deal with, too. I'll start with the Roof Brown I used for the rail, and then apply washes of India ink and Driftwood stain in varying strengths to give the ties individuality.

For the purple hue of deeply rusted rail, I start with Weathered Black and then apply rusty washes.
 

[mcjaco]

Bud will not provide a hop and barley buzz.  It's water with coloring.   

[ednadolski]

For mainline I use a mix of a medium gray and burnt umber.   You just have to try variations until you find a mix that looks good under your lighting.

Ed

[Philip H]

I generally use Floquil Rail Brown in their paint pen, with added rust for sidings and spurs.  The ties get rail tie brown from the same pens.  Mainlines get a light misting of dilute india ink in alcohol to simulate oil and grease splatters.

And there are much better "additions" to have when railfanning.

[chuck geiger]

Swabbing on the Burnt Umber with a mop Lee (sorry no lighting yet)





This track is gray!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love craft acrylics for this: http://conrail1285.com/news.asp?storyid=29

Choose the ones you want, blend all you want, and never spend more than $5.

Also, on a small project, you can always come back and hand paint individual ties, etc...

[chuck geiger]

I almost forgot this section of your website. Great refresher and detail on
how to make scenery pop. What color is like Grimy Black Ed?

[rochsub]

I use floquil rust applied with an airbrush to the sides of the rails.  After that I apply floquil railroad tie brown directly from above so that railroad ties get direct application of paint while the sides of the rails indirect application.  This gives the sides of the rails a railroad tie brown color with the rust still visible.

Daryl

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I almost forgot this section of your website. Great refresher and detail on
how to make scenery pop. What color is like Grimy Black Ed?

I think it was something like "Wrought Iron" or something like that. But really, I just looked through the shelf until I saw something that looked right. That's one of the things that's nice about buying stuff like this from big box craft stores. They're all over the place, and you can actually see the stuff before you buy it.

[lashedup]

Roof brown for the mainline:



- jamie

[chuck geiger]

Jamie - what a great picture - How's the module coming?

[wm3798]

http://conrail1285.com/media/IMG_0598.jpg

If you remember the old Northern Central the way I do... This picture is spot on.