Painted trestles?

[Ray Dunakin]

How common is it for wooden trestles to be painted? The railroad I'm most familiar with, San Diego and Arizona RR, has many large trestles in the desert areas. Most of these trestles were painted a dull brownish red color. Was this done on other railroads too?

Why would they paint instead of using creosote-treated lumber? If I remember correctly, the smaller trestles I've seen were creosoted, not painted. Perhaps size was a factor?

BTW, the SD&A's wooden tunnel portals were also painted. On the interior, only the bottom foot or two of each timber was painted.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Anybody who remembers wooden back porches knows how often they needed to be repainted. Consequently, I would think that painted trestles would be quite rare since the extra maintenance expense would quickly eat up the initial cost difference compared to treated lumber.

[Kevin C. Smith]

After viewing the "OOPS" picture thread it struck me-that may not have been paint. It could have been some form of fire retardant. Except for the brown-red color I might have said whitewash but it could've been something similar.

[ndbprr]

I believe most trestles and wooden structures would have been creosoted to prevent insect attack PARTICULARLY termites. I suspect based on the railroad name it could just be covered with dust from the desert that tends toward a red color. Also dependent on the age of the photo early color films are known to have a color shift with time toward the reds so the real color may be misrepresented.