Question for all you fair weatherer friends out there...

[tstage]

When it comes to weathering your locomotives and cars, do you:

1. Weather everything pretty much the same - i.e. the same general sooty or dirty quality?
2. Weather a variety of ways and degrees - e.g. some with heavy dirt, some with light dirt, some none at all.

Just curious. Thanks!

Tom

[Anonymous]

Tom,
I weather depending on what countyside the car run in, what they might haul and the age of the equipment. Being in the mountain area (logging in 1925) they are mostly muddy, rusty and old.
Bob

[Anonymous]

When I lightly weather I do the whole car/engine the same, with heavier weathering Its always ununiformed or unconsistent this adds to the realism, I use chalk and waterbased paints, and im getting back into the airbrush also.

I love the gritty realism of weathering..................

[Anonymous]

I have lots of variety in my weathering, just like a real railroad. Some cars are filthy, rusted or both, some in between in varying degrees and some that look like they just came out of the paint shop. I keep my passenger diesels pretty clean, the freight and switchers less so. My steam consists of "freshly shopped" (unweathered) Big Boy & Challenger, a moderately weathered Challenger and 4-8-2 and a very weathered 0-8-0.

The variety seems to add to the overall realism. To me, at least. When you see a real life mixed freight go by, you'll see lots of variety in car conditions.

[orsonroy]

Weather like reality: a little bit of everything. Especially for your time period, you should have some cars that are shimy and newly painted, and some so grubby that you can't read anything but the number (because somebody washed ONLY that part of the car). Old paints didn't weather well, so cars were repainted every 7-10 years. No one remembers just how dirty the steam era really was, and cars got disgustingly dirty. Between these two extremes, there's a LOT of room for variation!

[Anonymous]

Answer #2...

I love to weather everything in my fleet but tend to lean towards very filthy look. I have to force myself to lay off a bit on a few cars to add variety. I've found that even a light coating of chalk of the same color of the car will at least take away that new and straight out of the paint shop look to it.

Even if I don't do heavy weathering on the body, the trucks, especially the wheels will get blasted. I"ve never seen a brand new prototype engine or car with a new, shiny wheel set...they're always rusty!

Bill

[Texas Zepher]

I'll start weathering my fleet when I decide what era/prototype I'll be modeling!

But for our club layout we are in a serious get real mode. I am really trying to get people to weather the cars appropriately for:
1. The car type - different cars will get different spills and abuse.
2. The geographic area - e.g. cars running through Oklahoma will have more red dirt than those in New York.
3. The age - we are modeling 1953 so a car that is new in 1953 should be almost fresh out of the paint shop. One built in 1914 should be well worn and have lots of road grime.
4. The effect desired for weathering, wear, and dirty. They are really three different things. Weathering - just age of being out in the sun, rain, etc. Wear - getting beat up by fork lifts, shakers, loads shifting, etc. Dirty - running through a desert storm with wind and blowing dirt, mud splashing up, etc.

[tstage]

That's what I was hoping to hear. I've just started to weather a few of my rolling stock. I have one coal hopper that is pretty filthy (combination soot and light mud & rust) and a box car that is somewhat dirty - with a few layers of engine black/alcohol wa***o bring out the details.

From the impression that I was getting from those on the forum who regularly weathered, it almost sounded like folks were weathering cars all on the "heavy" side. I agree with you all. A variety of dirtiness gives the layout more realism in its appearance. In reality, a RR would never wash or repaint ALL their cars, ALL at the SAME time.

Thanks for the corroberation, fellas! [:)]

Tom

[Anonymous]

Well, interesting question, Tom. Since I have a layout and operate(Even though it is small and still needs scenery), I follow prototypes. So, something general, like my coal hopper fleet, gets a general coat of black chalk, Dullcote, then perhaps some more black chalk, plus your general truck/wheelset weathering and a rusty interior, as seen on prototypes. I go into greater detail with box cars. Scrapes, faded lettering, rust spots, the works. I am more likely to follow a prototype on a freight car than on a locomotive or coal hopper, unless something catches my eye, like a rent-a-wreck coal hopper or locomotive. Generally, my locomotives get soot around the grilles, fans, etc., grimy fuel tank and sideframes, fuel spills, rust-colored wheels, and a rust ding here and there, and Dullcote to dull the lettering and paint. Something strange, like a caboose or passenger car, usually doesn't get anything but a shot of Dullcote. I haven't done any buildings yet, so I can't say on those.

[fishplate]

Weather your cars according to what railroad they are from. Dirt differs from one part of the country to another. I live in a very sandy area, but 50 to 75 miles north-west the rock and dirt is red. So from time to time I will see rolling stock with this red tint. It may seem out of place but this is reallity. And it's very interesting and very much prototypical.

[jimrice4449]

The problem w/ weathering to coincide w/ the owning RR's locale is the prevelance of interchange. An SP boxcar used primarily in lumber service might go years w/o seeing the tunnels of tehachapi or the snowsheds of Donner because it spent most of it's time traveling from Oregon over the Modoc (now abandoned) and hence to the East and Midwest. On the other hand a covered hopper in captive service to a cement plant would definitely reflect that in the degree of weathering. The best bet is to just vary the effects throughout the car fleet. Engines are another matter. If you're modeling late steam on the UP or Pennsy filthy them up. If you're doing the Southern or SP (pre-DJ Russell) keep them clean (except for Cab Forwards assigned to Tehachapi or Donner)