The oily streak down the middle of the track......Advice Please!

[simon1966]

I am completing the scenery on about a 4 ft section of my layout. The painted atlas flextrack is down, the ballast is in place and drying from the dilute glue application. (ballast work is a real pain!!). I want to re-create the dark oily streak down the middle of the track. India Ink wash, oily black paint wash, powders are all options. Having spent so much time and effort getting to this point, I dont want to screw this part up. So any advice and suggestions for how this has been done before will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks folks

[dave9999]

Simon,
The best advice is to NOT experiment on your layout, but to ballast some track
on a small piece of plywood or foam. You could use a full piece of flextrack (3').
Then you could try all of the methods you mentioned above without messing up
your hard work on the layout. Good luck. Dave

[Pennsy58]

When I put down my ballast I added a streak of black cinders down the middle to simulate the oil trail. I am happy with the results. I poured the cinders off the side of a teaspoon, dont tell my wife, by tapping the spoon lightly against one of the rails. The cinders are small enough that the do not just look like black rocks added to the ballast. Then I sprayed the watered glue to the cinders to hold them in place.

[darth9x9]

Hey Simon,

You can use an air bru***o put a very fine line of grimy black down the track. Check out a photo of one the members in my club at:
http://www.fcsme.org/bobm/pointofrocks.htm

It is subtle yet effective.

As dave9999 stated above, try it first on a test section or area before doing the layout.

[Fergmiester]

Dave is right experiment first.

If you want a straight line down the center try cutting a hole in the middle of a flat car and use it as a jig. Speed of car determines saturation.

[dknelson]

When I look at photos of oil streaks of this kind (Byron Hill near Fond du Lac WI on the CN, former WC is a prime example) it is very precise and regular, it does not waiver, so freehanding it would not look right. possibly a long sheet of thin cardboard that fits between the rails with a very precise 1/8 inch gap cut in its center, place that over the track so the gap is in the exact center of the rails, and a light spray of diluted india ink would capture the effect. Curves would need their own piece.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

Would using a little actual engine oil work? Again, test it out first to make sure it doesn't eat away at anything, but it would seem as though the most realistic results would be achieved by using the real thing.
Reed

[Anonymous]

I found an old tyco flatcar with one coupler missing in my junk box and experimented.
I cut a slot 2 inches long and a quarter inch wide in the center of the floor parallel to the sides of the car. I then removed a drive wheel from an old phonograph (bsr turntable) and made an axle for it by cutting a standard clothes hanger wire to about a half inch.
I then took my soldering iron and melted two recesses in the car floor halfway and to each side of the long cut. I secured the wheel/axle assembly to the car floor using hot glue. Don't use too much or it will seep into the axle. My turntable was grungy enough that I didn't have to apply any oil to the wheel. I ran it several laps and there was the oily streak. You may want to attach a small paintbru***o the floor of the flatcar where the bristles contact the wheel while in motion. Isopropyl alcohol applied to this brush will soften the wheel and produce a black streak. Work slow through switchwork and crossovers and don't forget to clean the rails of the aforementioned trackwork the wheel has ran across.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, I think the real thing (e.g. used car oil because it looks black) will spread too much due to it's viscosity or it should be applied dot by dot with a needle tip (scale!). It would then certainly looks great but that'll be a lot more work than ballasting!?
This brings me to another question; I heard that steam engines had their oil streak off center track, is this correct?
Best regards,

Andre INGELS
Brussels, Belgium (the beer country[:I])

[darth9x9]

I would avoid the real oil as it will only attract dust and dirt and in less than a year, you will be unsatisfied with it.

[CBQ_Guy]

I would use a spare truck as some sort of guide to keeping the brush straight and down the middle.

For fresh oil, anywhere on the layout, I like the suggestion by, IIRC, Dave Frary in one of his books of using a mix of gloss black with some silver mixed in.