Remains of a sign painted on the moutainside facing B&O's Harpers Ferry station pictured in 1937.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
samfp1943So Right ! That concoction home brewed to paint barns seemed to last longer than the actual structures....And then you get down to the itenerant sign painters. Those were the guys who traveled, mostly in the South, finding the exact structures that they could paint and provide signage for the makers of 'Mail Pouch Tobacco', and of course, [See] 'Rock City'!
Remember the silo-sized Schlitz beer cans?
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Firelock76 Everyone may find this interesting, it's an 1835 recipe for farm paint. To Make Farm Paint Skimmed milk, four pounds or one half-gallon Lime, six ounces Linseed oil or neatsfoot, four ounces Color, one and a half pounds And for outside painting, add two ounces of slacked lime, oil, and turpentine. Red oxide was preferred for the color, red clay was also used.
Everyone may find this interesting, it's an 1835 recipe for farm paint.
To Make Farm Paint
Skimmed milk, four pounds or one half-gallon
Lime, six ounces
Linseed oil or neatsfoot, four ounces
Color, one and a half pounds
And for outside painting, add two ounces of slacked lime, oil, and turpentine.
Red oxide was preferred for the color, red clay was also used.
I'd add that before 1859, all paint was based on natural materials like plants, minerals, or animal products. This meant the price was determined by how common or rare the ingredients were. Blue and purple were expensive to make (using ink or something from a sea creature IIRC) so were "royal" colors, since only they would afford it.
Iron is pretty common, like in red clay, and could be used to make a cheap, strong brownish-red paint, so became common for any wooden outdoor structure - barns, boxcars etc. When artificial colors came in, people continued painting their barns red, but when they asked for 'red paint' at the hardware store, they were given red paint that was actually red, rather than brownish-red.
BTW in the 1870's -1880's there were a lot of freight and passenger cars painted straw yellow.
DSchmitt http://www.pacificng.com/template.php?page=/ref/color/index.php http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4195
http://www.pacificng.com/template.php?page=/ref/color/index.php
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4195
Red lead (not iron oxide), as well as white lead, pigment was widely used for years because it was a good preservative. It is a dull red. Look at barns and many railroad buildings besides boxcars and hoppers.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Railroad cars were traditionally painted the color of the contamination that would get on them. Oil and coal cars were painted black, cement hoppers were painted gray, and boxcars were painted to match the rust that would develope with age.
tree68 Firelock76 Red paint was easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and durable. Curiously, one of the legends of why fire trucks are red involved the fact that it was expensive, and early fire companies who painted their rigs red were showing off.
Firelock76 Red paint was easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and durable.
Curiously, one of the legends of why fire trucks are red involved the fact that it was expensive, and early fire companies who painted their rigs red were showing off.
Big difference between box car red and fire engine red. On starts dull and stays that way with age - the other is kept polished so the firemen can see themselves in the paint.
Firelock76Red paint was easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and durable.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I'd say it was for the same reason that I see all the dark red BNSF grain hoppers. The rust doesn't show.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Just guessing, but I suspect that the reason a lot of boxcars were painted red, or a variation thereof, was for the same reason barns were painted red.
Red paint was easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and durable.
I realize that there ARE Many Different colors used on cars, but.....it seems that the Brown/Red, Rusty/Brown color was used by many different railroads for many years.
How did that, kind of, become the default box car paint scheme.?
Thank You
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