This was answered in another thread but I put it here too since this is a more correctly labeled topic.

I have not made any weathering of a complete C track layout since I use M track for the moment. But I have made some tests for the future.
Here is a picture of a weathered C track:

<img src="http://home.swipnet.se/perz/brown_ballast.jpg" border=0>

The track is weathered using water colours. The watercolour can be removed from the upper surface of the rails and from the center studs using a damp cloth or sponge. There is no need for masking and it is therefore a rather quick method. The track is surrounded with Heki 3173 ballast that matches the "rust" colour quite well.

The picture just shows a quick test. I'm convinced that you can make it better after you get some practice. The good thing with water colour is that you don't risk the track. If you are not satisfied with the result you can just "wash up" the tracks and they are like new again.

I have done no weathering of my M tracks. A few tries very long ago didn't turn out well (rust !). Actually I'm not much into weathering at all yet. But I try to learn, the picture is from one of my "training sessions".

My current layout is not permanent, it is modular and stowed away most of the time. The reason is I don't have room for it. I can't occupy the whole living room with it all the time. When I stowe it away I remove the tracks so that I can build small temporary layouts on the floor. My own and some friends' children like to play with it that way. Therefore I haven't put ballast around the tracks like on the picture of the C track. I do use ballast flat on the ground beside the tracks. There I use natural sand (from two different beaches, coarse and fine) mixed with medium ground black pepper. This mixture blends in very well with the M tracks, but since the tracks just lay on top of it the impression could be better.

As I mentioned in a previous post: I do not use C-track normally, this was just a test to see if I could get a good looking result. I haven't tried to do it on turnouts. However, if you use water colour, it is very "forgiving". You can easily remove the paint if it comes somewhere where it should not be.

So that is the same paint color on the rails and ballast? Anyone else try to weather C track?

Thanos has also posted some good pictures on C track weathering. Here is a cross-link to that topic: https://www.marklin-users.net/fo...fault.aspx?g=posts&t=511