Scott:

Like many things, the answer is "it depends".

For example, it depends on how faithful the track maintenace crew is in
replacing bad ties. Freshly creosoted ties vary in color from a deep brown
to a tar-black, even in the same batch of ties. Your typical fresh
creosoted tie will be a dark black-brown.

But as the ties weather, they become a lighter brown, and then that
silvery gray of weathered wood we are all familiar with.

So depending on the maintenance level of your track, the color can vary
widely. And if just a few ties have been recently replaced in badly
weathered track, you can get some pretty stark effects. So it depends on
the prototype you are trying to emulate.

However, all black ties is uncommon, even for fresh ties. There will be at
least some brown-black to dark brown to tar black variation. Most will be
brown-black, with a few ties being merely dark brown or tar black.

Hope that helps you understand better how to weather your track. It helps
to go look at real railroad tracks if you can. Barring that, study the
track closely in colored photos to see how the ties look. Ideally, you can
get some colored photos of the line you are trying to model and study
them.

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Joe Fugate
http://siskiyou.railfan.net - 90,000 hits and counting>