Could anyone tell me what color the C&P painted their passenger equipment and what color was the lettering?
Thanks
Jim
Ah the Cumberland & PA…out of the Georges Creek area south and west of Cumberland MD. Was taken over by the Western Maryland in the early/mid 1940’s. (And not the Cumberland RR between Harrisburg & Winchester VA via Hagerstown MD - which I also know a little about.)
It’s a good road to model next to 2 great roads; the WM & B&O. Lots of mining, a few switch backs, great possibilities. If you don’t already have a copy of Deane Mellander’s book ‘The Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad - Western Maryland’s Historic Coal Carrier (Carsten’ Publications Inc), then I urge you to buy it!
Their passenger equipment was all manufacturered at their Mt Savage shops. They were all open platform truss-rod design, wooden clearstory coaches & an RPO/Baggage car. In the 1870’s they painted their cars bright yellow (page 58) - think weathering here, think 19th century also.
However the B/W photos in Mellander’s book are definitely NOT yellow (I do color matching & designing for my real job). The photos would indicate either red or dark green. After scanning back through the rest of the book I find there is no other mention of color on anything! So I checked several other WM sites and then I checked my final source.
Now to your question and my final source - my Grandfather worked for the WM in Cumberland as a freight agent during the 30’s, WW2 and late 40’s. He traveled and photographed lots of things in the Cumberland region. In comparing the B&W textures of the WM’s passenger cars with those of the C&P (allowing for the vagaries of panachromatic vs orthochromatic B&W films);
My Best Guess/Answer; Pullman Green with Gold lettering.
Why?
Because the B&O, WM and WVC&P all painted their local passenger equipment the pullman green or olive drab with gold or white lettering (Being a standard finish of the time, roads kept their look to the bare minimum & used what worked). The C&PA built passenger cars for the West Virginia
Mark,
Thank you for the information.
Jim