I'm trying to color the rails on my track with a Woodland Scenic paint pen but on seem to get the side of the rail head and not the web. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to modify the tip of the pen?

MRH: We retitled this thread to make it work better for searches. The old title was too vague.

While there's so much about my prospective railroad that doesn't hold up to even slight prototype-type scrutiny and while I'm not worried about rivets and obscure details, I'm trying to avoid the most glaring fabrications. Thus, trying to gave freight cars that generally "look" the real part. 

This is my first attempt at upgrading a steam loco – specifically a Mantua 2-8-2.

Before I took the loco apart, it did run successfully on my layout.  However the headlight did not work.  When I opened up the loco, there was one wire from the motor to the front of the “shell” (see pics).  The wire was only holding by 1-2 threads, and it broke shortly thereafter.  The “shell” is one solid piece of metal, weighing in at 14.4 oz.

is this a fuel hatch? I have not been able to identify the mystery red object.

also, what might  the very worn faint  lettering possibly read directly below ?

thanks for any info.