Project Test Track

Rusting the rails. I've never been a rivet counter as N Scale is pretty small. But was reading a discussion thread on Trainboard about weathering rails. Do I want to go to that much trouble? Suggestions were: To paint the rails "rail brown" with a 00 brush. Then individualize the ties with several drybrushed colors. Find some sort of paint pen that comes in a brown color. Poster couldn't remember the brand though. I thought we had a fine tipped "sharpie" in brown around the house. But no luck finding it. Hit the local Hobby Lobby Got a brown permanent marker that had a chisel applicator on one end and a "point" on the other. Found a fine tipped brown sharpie as well. Not sure which will win out in the end. I kinda like the color of the permanent marker better than the "sharpie". The "sharpie" paints well but the color may be too dark. It looks nearly as dark as the ties...plus it seems to leave some kind of a sheen on the rails. The permanent pen seems to get the color about right. I painted two stretches of track. One with the "sharpie" and the other with the permanent marker. Gonna let them dry overnight to see which one has colored the rails the best.