I started off cutting the rail in 39-foot lengths, just like the prototype. This works fine for straight track, but when laying curved rail, it became impractical. I now use as much of the 3-foot piece of rail as possible.
After filing the ends of the rail smooth, if applicable, I paint the sides of the rail with Floquil "Rail Brown" with a small brush. Wearing latex disposable gloves makes the job a lot less messy. Update: I now paint two or three 3-foot full length rails first before cutting them to size. Previously I was worried about paint flaking off when I cut the rails to length, but that appears to not be an issue. The Floquil paint stays on very well.
The thing I love about S-scale is that I can really add a lot of detail and it is actually visible afterwards. With that in mind I decided that I wanted to go the extra mile and use tie plates. I bought a package of tie plates from Tomalco Track (see photo below; which is one sheet, unpainted). They fit code 83 rail perfectly. If you use the Micro Engineering micro spikes, these tie plates require a bit of work to prepare them for the layout. I have found that the holes in the tie plates have some small amount of flash at the bottom. Most of the time there is enough flash to not allow the spikes to penetrate. I use a #75 drill to open up the holes I want to use for spiking. For my homemade brass wire spikes, the flash is not a problem and will penetrate the holes just fine.
After that, I cut them off the sheet using a pair of scissors or, lately, the Northwest Short Lines' The Chopper II. I used to paint the tie plates before I installed them, but with all the handling, I discovered that most of the paint flakes off of the tie plates by the time they're installed. I now use a tiny brush and touch them with Floquil Rail Brown after the track work is done. This also allows the spikes to be painted.
