I have to say that I notice less and less Armour Yellow and Cascade Green out there lately, which I miss. Oxide Red and Brown seems to be the Class I colors of choice for freight cars these days.
Regarding black cars though, aren’t a lot of gondolas still painted black? And is there a specific reason for that choice of color?
All but a small 2-digit percentage of my freight cars are painted black - which was standard for my prototype.[:)] The exceptions:
Cars carrying damage-sensitive cargo (international orange).[oops]
Refrigerator/insulated cars (white).[dinner]
Cars rated for higher than 70KPH speed - pastel green for 100KPH, baby blue (Honest!) for 160KPH.[:O]
There are also a few painted grunge brown for no apparent reason, and an ammonium nitrate tank car with a bright yellow tank.[8D]
Reporting marks and information stencils are white on dark colored cars and black on lighter cars. That yellow tank has some bright red stenciling - I wonder why.[xx(]
I seem to recall some Southern boxcars (and maybe other types of cars?) were delivered with black ends, but “brown” sides. Many tank cars (not just Southern) are black. Southern had quite a few black flatcars and gons. Their wrecking equipment was black (not just the crane, usually the whole train). And of course, after the late 50’s, their locomotives were black (though green did make a comeback on some passenger equipment). Some of their covered and open hoppers were black (though I think they might have been company service cars, I don’t recall). They also painted to roofs on some passenger cars black (this seemed random, I suspect it was for cars whose roofs had been patched for leaks, and the paint was to cover the work.)
Like GAPPLEG said, SP had black overnights and also black gondolas, C&O had black box cars with silver doors also. If I think of any others I’ll come back and add them to the list.
Black boxcars weren’t that common, but many railroads painted gondolas, flats and hopper cars black. Northern Pacific ore cars were black.
BTW as to why you see so many brownish-red RR cars…Way back in the 1800’s the cost of the paint you used was determined by how it was made. Before artificial colors came along in 1859, paint colors were made by using ‘organic’ materials, like certain plants. “Royal Blue” and purple were “royal” colors because the colors came from sea creatures, so they were very rare and therefore cost a lot - only royalty could afford it.
The cheapest paint was dark red, which was dirt cheap because it was made with, well…dirt. Soil or red clay with iron ore in it, which is common in many areas of the world. This red was also long lasting and tough as a paint, so freight cars, barns, anything exposed to the elements were painted that color. When artificial colors came along there was an explosion of colors, but “tuscan red” has continued to be a popular freight car color.
If you go black ,you may want to consider engine black or grimy black as even black paint weathers out to more of a very dark gray and under most layout lighting a pure black car will render most details invisible.
Just a note from a Southern fan,…but why would you want to paint it black when the Southern had that wonderful green and yellow paint scheme? One of the best paint schemes ever.
Norfolk Southern has recently been touting it’s environmental benefits…with trains being more environmentally friendly than pure truck transport and all…calling it their “green” campaign. I was hoping that they may have the spark of imagination to really bring that point home, and revive Southern green on some engines, y’know, heritage units. Think of the Thoroughbred in Southern Green! “Norfolk Southern gives the green light to environmental protection” Hmmm…
The green and yellow is the Southern green and yellow, as in the logo and many engines. He’s talking about painting his freight cars a specific color, different than SOU red of the past, because he’s freelancing the Southern in this day and age…(if i’m understanding the post correctly). Hence, why not paint them SOU green?
I see old Southern cars all the time…ones in aggregate service, esp, near where I live, and a few boxcars…they’re kinda beat up, but they’re all that oxide (or is it Tuscan?) red, or they’re white-grey.
That color, which is neither tuscan red nor oxide red, is called Southern freight car red. Its a lighter shade of “red”. In their regular line of paint, Floquil has a color labeled that. I use it to paint my SRR cars.
Nah. Rio Grande was famous for painting almost every standard-gauge freight car they owned black–except for their box-cars and their small fleet of reefers. Gondolas, hoppers, flats–all black. Western Pacific gondolas and hoppers–black. SP “Overnight” boxcars–black–at least the early ones, also a lot of their cattle cars. C&O Boxcars and gons and hoppers–black. Hey, the soot didn’t show as bad, LOL!
Actually toward the final days of Conrail a few of their gondolas were painted black and alot of their old Pennsy, Erie Lackawanna, and Penn Central hoppers remained black some still sporting their old reporting marks. CSX and Norfolk Southern have also been painting their gons and hoppers black for years. A lot of tank cars are usually painted black too.