Hey there, I know there were atleast three different paint schemes used on the old rio grande narrow gauge passenger equipment, pulman green, red, and the yellow paint scheme made famous by the durango and silverton. My question is, are there any other paint schemes that I haven't listed, and what lines were each scheme used on (was silverton yellow only used on that one branch line?)
The dark red paint was the earliest of these. It was used until WWI, when the USRA went with Pullman green as a standard. From 1918 to the end of regualr passenger service, green was the color. Yes, the yellow cars were originally just used on the Silverton Branch, but also for charters as needed and available, so they weren't really restricted to it.
There was some passenger cars in boxcar red during the 1930s that were used of the CCC and maybe other fed programs that needed transportation. And there were passenger cars shifted to MOW work which received whatever paint was standard on it, gray after WWII, although these usually had other modifications that rendered them unsuitable for further passenger service.
The Silver Vista was, of course, silver. Some of the named business cars were painted in one-off colors in the 50s.
I probably cut a few corners on that, but it's the basec story.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL