I am just curious as I keep building car kits - are prototype trucks for freight and other cars EVER other than black in color? I am getting a fair number of kits with red trucks. Is that prototype; for example, ACY 40' Mather freight car?
Cheers, Jake
I have read of certain Santa Fe freight car classes with the information that when new, entire car was painted mineral brown (ATSF equivalent of "boxcar red") INCLUDING the trucks. Don't imagine they stayed that way long.
I have often seen freight car trucks with a rust red cast to them, or a slight yellow-ochre cast to the basic black.
On passenger equipment of Santa Fe luxury trains, I have heard of touching up the silver paint on the trucks BEFORE EVERY RUN. But you did say "freight"...
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
I have vague recollections that someone, perhaps Gloor Craft, offered standard freight car trucks in HO in an aluminum color. Now I understand why! They were metal trucks with springs, again if I recall correctly. I think Gloor Craft is long gone as a model manufacturer, but I am happy to stand corrected on that.
And the classic old Lindberg trucks could be had in black or mineral brown/red.
I might add to this that Bucyrus Erie's main plant in South Milwaukee WI used and still uses obsolete old flat cars for inter-plant movements, and often the flatcars serve as painting platforms. All sorts of colors spill onto the cars including the trucks. I am pretty sure they still have at least one flat car with arch bar trucks. Most of their trucks were mineral brown/red and they picked up relatively little road grime because they rarely moved faster than 5 mph.
Dave Nelson