Gondolas of Lake Terminal RR.

[modelsof1900]

Lutz, thank you for your pictures.

Your Pictures show that I did not made an error with painting the rails in a rusty color.
However the problem is in all cases - rails coming direct out of the steel mill will have a blue-gray color given by not rusted cinder. The question is - how many time must go away until the rails will get a complete rusted survace. I'm absolutely sure that this will need one week or more and in other cases (depending from the steel alloying) also months.
Rails in 1900 time will not have the quality of today's products however nevertheless I will add yet a few blue-gray color points to "my" rail loads showing their "freshness".

[Schraddel]

Bernd!

From wikipedia:
Zunder (cinders)
" Wasserfreie Oxidationsprodukte, die sich bei hohen Temperaturen auf der Oberfläche von Eisen bilden, werden als Zunder bezeichnet. Sie bestehen anders als Rost aus Wasser- bzw. Hydroxid-freien Eisenoxiden unterschiedlicher Oxidationsstufen.
...
Bei Temperaturen › 180 °C bilden sich auf Oberflächen von Eisenwerkstoffen bei Einwirkung von Wasserdampf mit hoher Temperatur Schutzschichten aus Magnetit ( Fe3O4 ). Das Magnetit wird durch Reaktion von metallischem Eisen mit Wassermolekülen unter Bildung von Wasserstoff gebildet."

"... From the above equations, it is also seen that the corrosion products are dictated by the availability of water and oxygen. With limited dissolved oxygen, iron(II)-containing materials are favoured, including FeO and black lodestone (Fe3O4). High oxygen concentrations favour ferric materials with the nominal formulae Fe(OH)3-xOx/2. The nature of rust changes with time, reflecting the slow rates of the reactions of solids."

Full article: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust</a><!-- m -->

"... More vigorous calcining, (roasting in air), gives red pigment quality α-Fe2O3 (hematite):[8]
2Fe3O4 + ½ O2 → 3(α-Fe2O3)"
Full article: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(II,III">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(II,III</a><!-- m -->)_oxide

This means cinders are water soluble and can be washed away by rain. How long the blueish cinders will appear on the surface of steel depends how long and how much the rails are in contact with rain. In arid summer climates cinders will stay there for weeks or even months. In more climates with more humidity and rain cinders will be washed away in a few days.
And for the Lake Terminal RR which is situated on the south shore of Lale Erie:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_lakes#Climate">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_lakes#Climate</a><!-- m -->
=> chapter climate
Often fog conditions and a very humif climate.
This means the rails will corrode quickly.

my 2 cent

Lutz

[modelsof1900]

Lutz, thanks!