I just purchased a Westside brass Long Island RR G5s 4-6-0. Can anyone tell me what the paint color was, perhaps plain black or being a PRR affiliate did they use Brunswick green? If anyone can give me information on this it would be greatly appreciated. The pictures I have seen make it difficult to see the correct color.
Thanks in advance.
(Update: please sea my reply below)
Oh, is it complicated. See here for some of the varietal information:
https://www.google.com/search?q=long+island+g5+colors&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#sbfbu=1&pi=long%20island%20g5%20colors
Note the comment about tenders, which I'm not sure I believe.
No immediate sources resolve the green vs. black issue. The LIRR engines were certainly black in their later years. On the leased engines like 5471 you might expect the typical DGLE (what Penn men call "Brunswick green") above the running board and black below. Smokebox silver-gray until wartime, near-black except for the 'face' after; smokebox door and lugs probably black.
There is some discussion about brighter silver on the smokebox front and parts of the cylinders -- some say for grade-crossing notability, with the smokebox door painted a contrasting and somewhat jarring black. This 'look' apparently was pioneered briefly on at least one leased K4 in 1947.
Number plate background I think is black NOT toluidine red.
Sorry I'm a bit late with my reply, I've been kind of busy lately. Thank you for your information.
Here's an update with some information that will be useful to anyone else who wants to model LIRR steam. I found a page on facebook dedicated to the restoration of LIRR engine 39 and messaged them asking if anyone knew what the correct paint was for an LIRR G5s, and a few days later to my surprise I got an answer from not just anyone, but Don Fisher, the president of the Railroad Museum of Long Island! He was very helpful, and he told me that the LIRR G5s were typically painted black with a graphite smokebox, and PRR style lettering that was usually a buff or mustard color. He even sent me an email with some color photos of engine 39 and a chart with the lettering style and colors. The moral of this story is that it pays to dig and ask questions.
Wolf359and a few days later to my surprise I got an answer from not just anyone, but Don Fisher, the president of the Railroad Museum of Long Island!
That is cool! Gotta love when historians love to share about their knowledge.
KitbashOn30 That is cool! Gotta love when historians love to share about their knowledge.
I love that too. Mr. Fisher isn't the first historian I've been in contact with. Another historian I've been in touch with in the past was E.M. "Mel" MacFarland, a Colorado Midland Railway epert when I was trying to figure out the colors for my first brass loco, a Colorado Midland 4-6-0 from MEW. He was also very helpful. I think they enjoy helping out with modelers because we help keep the history of these railroads alive.