It of course depends on how old the car is from the build date.
(Thanks for the kind words, btw!)
And that above is the hard part. And this dovetails nicely into a subject that I was actually drafting a post for:
“Einstein’s Universal Theory of Rolling Stock Weathering”
Now, I’m no Einstein (but take it easy with the heartiness in agreeing, fellas), but in my mere two years of weathering, I’ve wrestled with how much internal consistency to apply to what I’m doing - not that every car should look alike, but rather to what extent should I carry out a set of governing principles or common guidelines throughout my railroad?
As I recall, Tom, you model a fairly narrow time span for your layout, and that drives a framework that is, not necessarily easier, but is more logically driven and more straightforward.
I’ve chosen to model a wider time span of 3-4 decades, but wherein some of the motive power and rolling stock in use all the way up to the end of that era came from 2-3 decades before.
So, I’ve got a few box cars from as far back as the 1890s and 1910s mingling with Consolidations from “nineteen ought something” mixing with Clinchfiield 4-6-6-4s and y6bs that ran to 1960.
And then there is my railroad itself. C&O Railroad, New River West Virginia area, same time span, 1920s-1950s. I’m modeling switchbacks running up the mountain to the coal mine and timber camp, and back. But by the 1920’s a lot of the switchbacks were phased out, and the branch lines rebuild with longer, much more meandering paths. Why? Apparently, improved motive power premited greater speed up the mountain, such that they could make better progress up a longer branch line, non-stop, than could be achieved with the reversing, stop & go pace of the switchbacks.
So why the switchbacks for me? Well, the more roundabout paths from the 1920s forward would require more of my layout real estate be hidden under mountains, and I didn’t go building and weathering all this stuff for it to not be seen.
And so the same wrestling ensues when weathering the rolling stock - how old is it? But wait, would it likely have gotten a repaint? If a repaint, it would be painted with a hardier contemporary paint, right?
And then there is the matter of improving my skill set and working with different materials and techniques.
All this combined conflicted with my goal of depicting an
era, vs. presenting a snapshot in time. This, of necessity, results in a “light hand” on the controls of “general principles”:
My switchback-laden branch line of the 1910s & early 20s is the domain of the 2-8-0s and 2-6-6-2s of those times, an my old-time 1890s box cars get pulled/pushed there, having been late a few tears for repaints, and look like they were rode hard and put up wet, because their linseed oil-based paint still yet begs to be put out of its misery, accompanied by early 2-bay 33-foot hoppers.
When rejoining the main, the 2-8-0s revert to light switching duty, and the 2-6-6-2s drop their loads, (like both did dutifully, until the end of steam), to be taken up by the Goliaths of the 1930s and 1940’s that didn’t exist when they were up the mountain a few minutes before.
My 1890’s box cars are going to forever remain in 1915-1930, forever seeking their first ever repaint, and finding it not.
My 1919 outside braced box cars will fare a bit better, being forever 5-10 years from their original painting/last repainting, regardless of what year of locomotive or other rolling stock to which they’re coupled.
And it’s like that withe everything - although the older a car is the more wiggle room I accord myself: anything over 20 years old by 1956 (the end of steam on the C&O is fair game to be either a rustbucket or to have had some intervening repaint. I have some hoppers that have a 1954 paint scheme on them; they’ll get a basic dullcote, minimal fade and modest dusting & grime.
So, I don’t have a universal set of rules I apply; I go for a look that is viable for the type of car or locomotive achieved at any point during its years of service, even if that displaces it a decade (or two) from its peers - provided it remains era-appropriate.
How about you?
How about anyone else? This is intended to be open for all you weatherers out there - what ground rules do you lay down for yourself?
