Was most rolling stock painted/repainted with more colorful schemes after WWII? The reason for asking is that I have a Proto 2000 8K gallon (Type 21) riveted tank car with a BLT date of 5-26, painted in a canary yellow for Roxana Petroleum Corp (RPX), with SHELL printed on the exterior in big, bold letters. I don't see a NEW date on it anywhere.
Would this have been the color when first built? Or, was it more likely that it would have been black? Gut feeling says it was repainted but, perhaps, Proto 2000 forgot to include the NEW date?
Thanks for the help...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Tom,
I would suspect that it was repainted. Some colorful schemes were on tank cars(wine service), but black, followed by aluminum would be the norm. Note that the P2K cars have 'K' style air brake equipment still on them. Just repainting a car does not make it 'NEW'. And I suspect they did not have that paint scheme and still have 'K' air brakes....
Usually P2K has correct paint jobs and reporting marks on their models, but the model was most likely made using original drawings. Thats my opinion, time to watch MNF.....
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
So, if I understand you correctly, Jim, you're saying that a bright yellow was probably a post-WWII paint scheme? I'll try and post a pic of the tanker when I've completed it.
I could be wrong, but I believe,all the Black paint,was allocated,to Henry Ford, so they had to use,what they could get.
Cheers,
Frank
It is no easy task for us (or the manufacturers) to get accurate information about colors of rolling stock from that era. Sometimes a painting instruction can be found on old drawings. And this might sound odd but sometimes the best source for colors can be the colorful lithography on old old true tinplate toy trains from the 1920s-30s.
However, the photos of old tanks cars 1922-1943 from the old Car Builder's Cyclopedias, reprinted in Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 12, pretty clearly show that there were colors other than black or aluminum. You just can't tell what they were! Yes there are plenty of black cars, but also many that if I were to guess are a sort of golden orange, almost like the color of gasoline itself come to think of it. One old picture of an ACF car painted for Roxana Shell suggests it might be the same warm yellow as the Shell Oil signs that I remember.
The page with that photo was from the 1925 Cyclopedia, so at the very least we can state with confidence that a 1925 Roxana Shell car was almost certainly yellow of some shade (photo shows archbar trucks, a black lower part of the tank, and a large dome with no platform around it. R.P.X. 2030 is the reporting mark. The text says it is a Class IV insulated car.
I hope this helps!
Dave Nelson
dknelson One old picture of an ACF car painted for Roxana Shell suggests it might be the same warm yellow as the Shell Oil signs that I remember. The page with that photo was from the 1925 Cyclopedia, so at the very least we can state with confidence that a 1925 Roxana Shell car was almost certainly yellow of some shade (photo shows archbar trucks, a black lower part of the tank, and a large dome with no platform around it. R.P.X. 2030 is the reporting mark. The text says it is a Class IV insulated car.
One old picture of an ACF car painted for Roxana Shell suggests it might be the same warm yellow as the Shell Oil signs that I remember.
That does indeed help, Dave. Thanks! The yellow shell of the model is similar to "warm yellow" of the Shell Oil signs and the underbelly is indeed black. I think the reporting mark on this one is R.P.X. 2395.
Here's the pics of the assembled Proto 2000 tanker that I said I would post:
Is that the Shell Oil sign yellow you were thinking of, Dave? And, according to your data, this bright yellow would not seem out of place for the late 30s/early 40s? Thanks.
That is not the lettering scheme from the old 1925 Car Builder's Cyc. It does not have the word Shell in large letters. My hunch is that this is a slightly later scheme, although the COLOR of the car may be the same as from the 20s. Hard to judge from a black and white photo. By the way Google Images shows old Lionel tinplate tank cars of Shell oil in yellow which again suggests this color is pretty darn close.
Wish I could be of more help.
Dave, thanks again for your input. I really appreciate it.
I also believe it is a repainted. I have seen a few black and white photos of Shell cars dated in the 1930s with SHELL in small letters on the left and the car definitely black (or dark as black). The new scheme looks like a more modern, post WW2 one.