Steam Engine Colors

=>> I'd like to know where you got the info that Baldwin delivered locos painted =>> olive green around 1900. And also more details: Which locos? For which roads? =>> Etc. =>> =>> Wolf Kirchmeir =>

=>Baldwin would deliver locos in whatever color specified by the =>purchasing railroad. Like ordering a specific color on your new car.

That's not what I asked. The implication of the OP's comment was that Baldiwn routinely delivered locos in olive green. That seems rather odd to me.

Wolf Kirchmeir ................................. If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on this train? (Garrison Keillor)

Loco colors depended upon the railroad specs but the late 1800s and most of the railroads painted their locos black by this time. The paint was a semigloss black. Fireboxes and smokeboxes (again, depending upon the railroad) may have gotten a graphite grease mixture instead of paint and the color of that varied by the particular mix that was done. Roofs of the cab were often painted a different color as well as the window frames by the different roads. The locos were well maintained by constant cleaning and usually got a new paint job at each shopping. I'll also note that not many railroads painted the siderods or driver tires with white paint. There is a test done to check for cracks where a white material was applied after the rods were wiped down with a light oil and the white material was checked for lines of darkness where a crack would take up the oil. In addition, the manufacturers of the locos would apply the whiting to a loco for its portrait to make the loco look more spiffy. This sort of painting carried over to the early diesels that were done and it was the Depression Era passenger service that started the bright color schemes for locos and cars both. Look at the railroad cars for that same brown Boxcar Red color that tended to get some fresh colors later on when the diesels really got going.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works every time it is tried!

In the northeast, steam locomotives were painted black. The only exception I ever saw were some passenger locomotives serving Montreal painted (or accented) in a rich maroon. First class passenger steamers would show some gloss in the black paint, if they were washed daily. Freight and commuter locomotives got sooty and would show a dead flat dark gray from the soot and cinders. It must be remembered that stack of a coal burner threw out a steady shower of black soot and cinders that settled on everything for 100 yards around. My grandmother's house stood within 1/2 block of the tracks. One of the duties of visiting grandchildren was to wipe the soot off the porch furniture every morning. Damp rag always came out solid black by the time the last chair was wiped off.

David J. Starr

I cannot document it, but, I seem to recall reading that the Erie triplexes, built about 1914 or therabouts, were jacketed with Russia iron. This came up some 25 years ago or so when I custom painted an Erie 2-8-8-8-2 for a customer and had trouble simulating the Russia iron bluish sheen or however it appeared.

Any Erie experts out there have info on this?

Ray Hobin NMRA Life # 1735; TCA # HR-78-12540; ARHS # 2421 Durham, NC [Where tobacco was king; now The City of Medicine]

You have to remember that when railroads first got started, the engineers were assigned to a loco and ran it everywhere. As a result the engineers took special care of the loco, including taking and painting and otherwise decorating the locos. The railroads encouraged this behaviour. Later on, the engineers stopped being assigned to a loco but rather just got an engine for the day and the care of the locos stopped as a result and the railroads thus had to take over the care of the loco in this regard. Large railroads started this trend while the small short lines persisted in the old custom a lot longer.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works every time it is tried!

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 14:20:20 UTC, "Daniel A. Mitchell" wrote: 2000

Typically bright nickel rather than chrome, if it matters.

Years ago...30 maybe...I had a bunch of H0 brass steam chests nickel plated so that the cylinder heads would appear as stainless steel..costs at a chemical outfit in Alexandria, VA was about $6 each. Sure improved the appearance of a SR Ps4 and others in my collection.

Ray Hobin NMRA Life # 1735; TCA # HR-78-12540; ARHS # 2421 Durham, NC [Where tobacco was king; now The City of Medicine]

Years ago...30 maybe...I had a bunch of H0 brass steam chests nickel plated so that the cylinder heads would appear as stainless steel..costs at a chemical outfit in Alexandria, VA was about $6 each. Sure improved the appearance of a SR Ps4 and others in my collection.

Ray Hobin NMRA Life # 1735; TCA # HR-78-12540; ARHS # 2421 Durham, NC [Where tobacco was king; now The City of Medicine]