German railcars

I don't know whether Germany have teak or not. But whatever type of wood, it should look similar to this :





More pics available at http://www.falconbbs.com/model23b.htm

I am a train engineer myself and I often pull "flat" wagons, haulers and what I have noticed is that whatever type of wood is used ; after a while it looks almost black.

I would think that whatever wood was used, through the constant wear and tear, dirt and grime that would have been deposited by vehicles, you can probably paint the basecoat in some kind of mid-brown, generic wood tone, then just dirtyi it up.

While we're on the subject of rail cars, could you use the Dragon WWII/German flatcars that are available for more modern subjects? Or are the newer ones completely different?

id suspect. besides, if its a US subject ur building, the cars in Europe were and still ar of a smaller gauge, i.e., the width between the tracks is smaller, so u might not be able to use them with a U.S. engine. also, U.S. tanks are now wider and bigger than the WWII stuff. i doubt if they're even hauled by rail in one piece any more