Another point is that the "correct" paint might not look right under our artificially-lit layouts. I think the Accu-flex "Pullman Green" paint was probably the closest commercial paint ever made to matching the real color, but on a passenger car it looks way too dark - virtually black. It's often better to go a shade or two lighter than the "correct" color (a tip from our military modelling cousins).
I'm no expert on matching paint colors and I'd be the first to tell you that I'm a poor color judge or coordinator. But, that being said, I'm told that the color will often depend on the shop the piece of equipment was painted in on the prototype railroad. Further, there are some instances on the prototype railroad, where the colors were not necessarily exactly matched anyway. As an example, the red (vermilloin) stripe on the Chessie System locomotives (1970's, yellow). I'm told that the paint shop used whatever red that they had on hand.
the other comments about lighting, fading, and also weathering, make it difficult to match colors exactly.
RR_MelAs Broadway Lion continually says about colors, don’t worry about color matching . . . . colors fade. My layout is in the garage and sunlight can’t get to it but fluorescent lighting does and it fades colors too.
OK, I'll say it again. Colors out on the railroad fade and are weathered very quickly.
Colose enough is close enough, paint shop perfect is a pain in the paint brush.
And it does not last long enough for you to take a pictue of it anyway.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
There were colors that were soposed to be used but paint got mixed on the spot except at the factory so the colors could be way off.
TruColor Paint has C&EI blue .... number TCP-147 ....
http://trucolorpaint.com/products/paint/
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Yes, there is a C&EI Historical Society: http://www.ceihs.org/
Also useful, this link: http://www.danvillejct.org/
Trust your eye on the color, but also consider than some colors faded quickly. Take a look in the spray paint section for something that's close.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
PastaDNA,
Someone else might chime in, but to my knowledge no comprehensive list of of company colors exist. Your best shot is checking to see if there is a C&EI historical society or Facebook group (Check for Yahoo & Google groups as well). These folks may be able to help you. As an example, the PRRT&HS (Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society) has some actual PRR paint chips.
Oh, one other thing. Pure color matches don't usually translate well to model size. For instance, HO scale is one 1:87, or one inch equals seven foot three inches. So if you were viewing the real thing from around twenty feet away the same perspective would require that your eyes be only three inches from the model. Models also do not benefit from environmental factors like natural sunlight, or being viewed through atmosphere/haze. Because of this, manufacturers often lighten their colors by a few shades to compensate.
Good luck with your search and your project!
Chris Ballinger
Modeling the Clementon Branch of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in HO scale
My father worked for the C&EI for 36 years and I'm making dioramas (C&EI cabooses) for two nephews. They arrived the other day and the color seems off to me (I worked there too for a few summers). Anyway, in trying to correctly identify the proper color, I googled my fingers off yesterday without success. Isn't there a website that 1. Identifies or names the actual color for rail cars and 2. Provides the modeling color, manufacturer of or mixing ratio for that color? In other words, Railroad "ABC" has "Fire Engine Red" for their boxcars... How do I mix that color? What ratios? What paint manufacturer? I have found color chart comparisons among paint manufacturers but nothing that identifies rail lines paint colors and what corresponding model paints exist (mixing ratios). Need a little direction, thanks.