I posted these pictures in the layout section, but they were buried in another topic.
I think I have the colors worked out for the Northwestern Pacific. I found a color picture and sort of worked backwards.
I think this caboose is a better representation of the color. Since Northwestern Pacific was owned by SP and AT&SF I figure the color to be SP mustard yellow.
These two B&W images seem to bear out the NWP color scheme.
While I have quite a few photos of the NoWhere in Particular. I don’t have many of the California Western, at least before they went tourist skunk red. In the following picture, it appears that the engine is completely black. The passenger cars I can only guess. I’d say, again, the SP color scheme, mustard yellow with red trim.
Comments or suggestions?
I doubt that pictures of the engines in the 20’s or 30’s will help figure out the colors of the cars/engines in the 1890’s. For example the caboose is a late 20th century scheme. Unless you know the car has been restored by a “reputable” museum or historical society, never trust whats on a display engine or car. A lot of times it is what the local city painter could do, not what was accurate.
For engines I would start with a Russia iron boiler (a gunmetal color) with various colors of striping and trim on the engine. Note that on the in service picture of the engine, the smokebox is much darker than the boiler (because the smokebox is a flat heat resistant paint, and the boiler is either Russian iron or polished) than on the display engine painted in the more modern SP scheme with the aluminum smokebox and the black boiler.
Cars would most likely be some version of boxcar red or black with white letterings. Maybe something fancy on reefers. Yellow would be good color for passenger cars. Yellow, red and green seemed to be popular colors. The roofs of the passenger cars could be grey, they look too light to be black.
Dave H.