I concur with those who paint the track after it is installed, wired and tested.  I don't think you will save any real time by painting the track before installation; I use either Railroad Tie Brown or Roof Brown for track color; sometimes I'll add a drop or two of weathered or grimy black. I spray with an airbrush and move my compressor around as needed; as with a lot of paint projects, set up and clean up usually take more time than actual painting.

Remember to protect the contact points of your turnouts.

After the track is ballasted I weather the ballast with chalks.

If you don't want to airbrush there is a track painting gizmo available from:

http://www.joesmodeltrains.com/products.htm

I've not tried this product but it is an alternative for those who don't want to spray paint.

Good luck!

Jim Brewer

This is modern welded track on a overcast day in California. The welded track explains why the tie plates are a little larger with double rows of spikes. The last ties added are the ones with nail grids on the ends, and are blacker, due to more recent creosote.

I fin the ties are much blacker and the tie plates and rail sides more light brown rust, following rain. The ties are far lighter brown with a gray tone and the rail a darker gray with a brownish tinge during a dry spell. More like below.

I'm surprised that with all this talk of track painting no one has mentioned this elbow-saving tip I learned from Doug Bulger: oil the top of the rails.

Put a little 3-in-1 (or any other paint-adverse oil) on your fingertip and rub it gently over the railhead. You want to leave a completely coated surface with no oil on the sides of the rail. Paint. Then, instead of rubbing and scrubbing, a passing glance will remove the paint from the railhead!

I forgot to do this once. Once! And I'll never forget again. 

AL

I would wait to paint until the track is laid. As others have said, get it down and fine tuned before painting. Get your leads soldered on too. If you paint flex track before laying when you curve it then there will be silver spots wherever there was a spike head when straight. Then you'll have to touch them and the rail joiners up. If you are using the Atlas insulated joiners there is actually a prototype for the bright orange or "white" joiners. I have seen joints on both the UP and BNSF in the Nebraska-Iowa area painted bright orange, red, or green.

I paint my N Scale Atlas code 80 track with Dollar store acrylic paint, I use the Cinnamon Brown colour.

I simply brush it on, then once dry, tack my thumbnail and clean the top of the rails.

A sample can be seen in my blog, see signature.

Al's idea above is a very good one.  I have used a thin coat of vaseline to mask off areas before spray painting.  Maybe next time I will use some type of oil.

Thanks Al

Some of you are saying that if you weather your track before laying it down, you'll have to clean the ends before you join the tracks together (solder, etc).  Does this apply to ME's weathered track as well?  I have been thinking of getting different track since Atlas has been having supply issues and was looking into this kind.

Thanks!

Some of you are saying that if you weather your track before laying it down, you'll have to clean the ends before you join the tracks together (solder, etc).  Does this apply to ME's weathered track as well?

ME "weathered" rail is treated with a chemical blackener.  Solder won't stick to it.  You'll have to clean the rail ends and anyplace else you need to apply solder.  I use this rail all the time, and it only takes a few seconds to file off the blackener.  I do this to all rail ends before sliding joiners on.  I often add feeders around the pre-cleaned areas at rail joints, but sometimes will locate them elsewhere, and again it's a quick process to clean the rail and solder.

Also note that ME weathered track is the same as the regular kind with respect to the ties - they're still shiny plastic and don't look realistic unless they're painted.  The main advantage to using weathered rail is that paint chips aren't obvious.

Thanks, Rob!  Good to know about the ties too.

I paint my track with PollyScale Railroad Tie Brown with a 1/2" paint brush. After slopping paint on a section of track I wipe off the top of the rails with a felt pad wetted with Windex. That will remove PolyScale paint that is not fully set. After the Windex, I rub the top of the rails with a piece of Homosote to remove any residue.  I also add a little oil to turnout points to prevent then from sticking to the ties.

 I think I bought the felt pad at a Jo-Anns fabric store and glued it to a piece of 1x2 for a handle.  Rinse it when you're done and it stays clean.