Old Sherwin-Williams Paint Colors

[Anonymous]

Hi,

In the October 2001 issue of Model Railroader there was a fascinating "Ask Paint Shop" article by Marty McGuirk about a circa 1900 Sherwin-Williams paint sample book donated to the Kalmbach Publishing Company library. The Northern Pacific Railroad/Railway used standard paint schemes for its depots and other buildings for many decades. Much of this paint came from Sherwin-Williams. I have been searching for authentic old depot colors for some time. Both modelers and groups working to restore old depots have been wanting accurate information about colors. We have some heavily weathered samples taken from old buildings but these are of doubtful reliability and difficult to match..

The Northern Pacific depot body color from the 1890s until the 1940s was "Indian Red." The doors, window frames and trim were "Bottle Green" or "Quaker Green." Do these names appear in the old Sherwin-Williams book? If so, is there a way of getting them matched to current Sherwin-Williams colors or any current model paints?

Thank you!

Larry Schrenk
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association Archives

[Big_Boy_4005]

Interesting question Larry. Thanks for listing the issue in which the article appeared, which allowed me to read it. It sounds like, unless you can find a copy of the book, you aren't going to find the real color. Modern color matching technology is very good once you find an accurate sample to match from.

Have you tried contacting Sherwin Williams? Most companies keep an archives containing information like what you seek. If you get a hit with them, they can easily give you a formula.

You could try contacting Kalmbach directly, in an effort to get access tio their copy. I'm not sure if they have staffing for such requests, but you might get lucky.

One more long shot comes to mind. The Library of Congress, may have something that could help you.

I don't know if there is a way to have the weathered chips chemically analyzed in an effort to recreate a formula. The problem is modern paint is made from diffrent materials, so it might not translate at all.

Good luck in your search / research.

[Anonymous]

Haven't tested it to see if it's really true, but my understanding has been that Sherwin-Williams does have all their old formulas on file, and can mix any color they've ever made as long as you can give them the correct name for it, even if's not part of their current product line.