This month's issue of Trains Magazine shows some CP locomotives that have been repainted candy-apple red color. Some had been rebuilt, and some just needed repainting. I know that some railroads have paint schemes with black paint where a locomotive will get the grubbiest. Are there certain colors that wear better, or cost less to apply? Is anything like that taken into account when a railroad picks a paint scheme, or is it all about image? It seems like painting a locomotive candy-apple red is just asking for a future Pink Panther. I recall reading that the reason Henry Ford painted model T's black was because black paint dried faster.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Black gets ratty fast - just look a Penn Central.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
But NS is mostly black..........I see a lot of BNSF locomotives that are black from about the walkway down. I just always assumed that was to hide grime.What was the color PRR used on passenger cars to hide road grime? Brunswick Green or Pullman Green?
Murphy SidingWhat was the color PRR used on passenger cars to hide road grime? Brunswick Green or Pullman Green?
Brunswick Green: 50 parts black to 1 part green.
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SP painted it locomotives with soot. It looks like UP is experimenting with that.
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Murphy SidingI see a lot of BNSF locomotives that are black from about the walkway down. I just always assumed that was to hide grime.
I think BNSF has the black running gear only on their new first paint scheme. All later schemes have aluminum paint instead of black. It might be more for design considerations.
I think it was Santa Fe that cleaned the silver trucks of locomotives on their premier trains at the end points.
Black trucks weather as fast as silver ones: http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceout.gif
http://ewebcarpenters.com/beta/cro/RESTRICTED/2015/August/images/south/BNSF%20647%20RICHARD%20CHASE.jpg
BNSF 647 (Dash 9-44CW) was built in 1994 and photographed in 2015 still in her first paint coat.Regards, Volker
Paint technology has improved to the point that paint colors offer about the same resistance to dirt and wear. Note the KCS scheme which has several colors and is wearing well as well as the fading warbonnets still flying the ATSF flag.
BNSF Heritage 4 includes black running gear.
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/628768/
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/627984/
[quote user="SD70M-2Dude" above]
As far as I know.Brunzwick Green was a PRR paint for locomotives, not for the running gear of passenger equipment which was regular black. And the car body itself Tuscan Red with lettering and any striping gold.
Murphy Siding What was the color PRR used on passenger cars to hide road grime? Brunswick Green or Pullman Green?
[/quote]
SD70M-2Dude Murphy Siding What was the color PRR used on passenger cars to hide road grime? Brunswick Green or Pullman Green? Brunswick Green: 50 parts black to 1 part green.
Brunswick Green represented here, I think:
https://prrt1steamlocomotivetrust.org/station/
You will probably find much more discussion of 'Brunswick Green' under its more-or-less official PRR name, "Dark Green Locomotive Enamel", commonly abbreviated by PRR cognoscenti to just "DGLE"
There are both color sample chips and pretty good Pantone equivalents available, and at least at one time there were Web pages with mixing formulae for (alas! now largely-departed!) brands of model paint.
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