High, I'm about to start building a B&O Branchline kit of 12-1 sleeper. But what was the colors of the seats? What other colors was common in the interior of these cars? I'm modelling the mid 50's.
Magnus
Hello Magnus
In my experience with Pullman color schemes much of the seat upholstery was either a dark green or a reddish-brown color. Up until the 1940s most of the cars had a painted wood-grain finish. In later years, as the mid 1950's I recall the interiors being very light gray or, more often, a tan or biege color. Carpeting was usually a dark floral or geometric weave.
If you stick to "earth-tones" with lighter shades on the walls and darker shades on the upholstery and floors you will be OK.
Although not a 12-1 here's a couple of photos of a typical Heavyweight lounge and section.
Thank you very much. That was preciesly the kind of info I was looking for.
It's hard to get a definite answer unless someone on the Forum is a B&O expert. Remember that Pullman sold their Pullman cars to the various railroads that used them in about 1948, so in the 1950's the car would be owned by the B&O, not Pullman. The B&O may have chosen to decorate the interior of their cars differently than Pullman had.
When in doubt with railroading, the interior of anything - passenger cars, cabooses, locomotive cabs, buildings etc. - a good bet would be a pale green sometimes called "industrial green". Tamiya's "cockpit green" is a good match.
BTW it occured to me the other day that a good subject for a book aimed at railfans and model railroaders would be a book cataloging passenger car interiors and their color schemes. Seems like there's always a question on this or other RR forums asking how ABC railroad painted their passenger car interiors, what colors were the seats, floors, etc.
Good idea. It called be called something like "The modelrailroaders giude to detailing passenger cars"