My 10 year old track is very sun bleached on the surface, but the ‘spikes’ are still flexible. Had faded to 3 shades of gray. I spray painted all my ties this spring. Camo brown is a warm brown creoste … ooops I was side tracked. Your mention of Chili John’s track, makes me think your rain is worse than our old sun!
We’ve had 30 days of 100+ F weather in June, I know baking …
The new track looks great.
John
This is getting brittle. I have a thread documenting some replacement track that was down only about three years.
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/19681/ams-code-250-track
Yep, 4 years later, my Armorall treatment has preserved the black and flexibility.
Greg
Yep. This stuff I’m applying ArmorAll when it goes down, and every couple of months.
Bob, the new formulation (original formula on the bottle) has good sunscreen. Also the lime green bottle of protectant sold by Turtle Wax has given me good results.
I bought a 1 gallon “landscape” sprayer from home depot / lowes / menards, I buy the 1 gallon “refill” of Armorall, and with it pumped up well and the spray head adjusted, I get a fine pattern just as wide as the track.
You can spray track as quick as you walk, you don’t have to bend over, etc. You can wipe the rails off afterwards, but I have not suffered any ill effects of letting it dry on the rails.
To be clear: leave it on the ties, it will “soak in” in a number of hours, don’t wipe it off. You might need to re-spray for track that has aged a lot, maybe a couple of days later.
I like easy!
Greg
Good Idea with the garden sprayer Greg, i will have to do that with the intense sun we get here. So far my track is used Aristo and new and used AML and some new Piko . Once its down I will start a schedule for spraying it. I am guessing you are not heavy soaking the ties, just spraying as you walk to wet the ties
Does it affect the ballast in any way?
No, it looks a little wetter for a bit, then goes away. Armorall is a plasticizer and sunblock.
Greg
Greg, do you need to clean the rail after the application of Armoral or do you just let it dry.
Thanks
Steve
Sorry, viewing on my phone and did not see you reply about OK to leave it on the rails.
Let it dry and run a train
Tomorrow is my self-imposed deadline for trackwork before TrainOps, and I’m almost there. I have most of the new trackwork at Pearce in place, with the exception of the spur for Goodson’s, and the far switch on the runaround needs some alignment.
And I replaced the two troublesome switches at one end of Dead Rooster Gulch.
I just need to add switch throws to them all.
Looking forward to flawless operation (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Jon Radder said:
Looking forward to flawless operation (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Keep looking. 
Bruce Chandler said:
I’ll be interested in them - especially how they hold up outside.
I’ve had mine out doors now going on 3 years and have held uo very well. I do get a lot of direct sun light on them and high temps around 95 and up during summer. I plan on installing more of them when I start the build of my new raised RR. BTW Bob nice thread on rebuild. Later RJD
Greg Elmassian said:
Bob, the new formulation (original formula on the bottle) has good sunscreen. Also the lime green bottle of protectant sold by Turtle Wax has given me good results.
I bought a 1 gallon “landscape” sprayer from home depot / lowes / menards, I buy the 1 gallon “refill” of Armorall, and with it pumped up well and the spray head adjusted, I get a fine pattern just as wide as the track.
You can spray track as quick as you walk, you don’t have to bend over, etc. You can wipe the rails off afterwards, but I have not suffered any ill effects of letting it dry on the rails.
To be clear: leave it on the ties, it will “soak in” in a number of hours, don’t wipe it off. You might need to re-spray for track that has aged a lot, maybe a couple of days later.
I like easy!
Greg
I am gonna look into doing this on my track once its down for good, and the support boards are painted. Any idea how much one would need?
Nicolas Teeuwen said:
Greg Elmassian said:
Bob, the new formulation (original formula on the bottle) has good sunscreen. Also the lime green bottle of protectant sold by Turtle Wax has given me good results.
I bought a 1 gallon “landscape” sprayer from home depot / lowes / menards, I buy the 1 gallon “refill” of Armorall, and with it pumped up well and the spray head adjusted, I get a fine pattern just as wide as the track.
You can spray track as quick as you walk, you don’t have to bend over, etc. You can wipe the rails off afterwards, but I have not suffered any ill effects of letting it dry on the rails.
To be clear: leave it on the ties, it will “soak in” in a number of hours, don’t wipe it off. You might need to re-spray for track that has aged a lot, maybe a couple of days later.
I like easy!
Greg
I am gonna look into doing this on my track once its down for good, and the support boards are painted. Any idea how much one would need?
Probably a half to full ounce per foot, twice a year. Still, that’s a lot cheaper than replacing ties.
I buy the 1 gallon refill, usually the same price as bottle half the size with a trigger sprayer.
Absolutely cheaper than replacing ties!
Greg
Wow…that seems like quite a bit. Gallon refill it is.
Track work looks good, Bob!
i buy it by the gallon because it’s cheaper… and I have 850 feet of track
Greg
