Is the silver color that some railroads seem to prefer simply cosmetic, or is there another reason why they prefer silver over the standard black? I’ve read that cracks and abrasions are easier to see if the trucks are silver…
The preponderance of the evidence I’ve read says it is mostly for ‘show’.
Technically if you had visible cracking with oil infiltration you’d see it against the lighter background. But to get to that size is already evidence of severe failure, and meanwhile the silver particulate paint is likely to bridge over any voids or cracks at least as well as PC black did in the last days of cast-frame ex-PRR electrics, and the film might have the elasticity to bridge new damage without showing any surface defects…
WAG
(1) already in use from passenger practice prior to arrival of diesel locomotives
(2) durable (as opposed to white, which had pigment issues)
(3) the paint was already a inventory item
Kinda like white-walled tires, except for trains?
Trains ‘white walled tires’ come after cars go over the hump and get braked by the retarders. The edge of the wheel rims get down to bare metal.
Visibility at night, to both motorists at grade crossings and crewmen on the ground?
Well, there is that. I was thinking more like the truck frames would stand out as a show-off kind of thing, like whitewall tires…
They did paint the “sidewalls” of some steam locomotive wheels…
To tell the truth, only one major railroad I’m aware of paints its trucks silver, and that’s BNSF. UP’s are gray, CSX’s are blue; NS, CN, CP, and KCS paint theirs black (unless I’m mistaken).
Silver trucks look good (maybe) for a day. Then they look like crap. Never understood the fascination.
BNSF trucks have gone black with the latest H4 paint scheme.
BNSF SD75M in H4…
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/642200/
BNSF GP60M in H4…
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/627984/
BNSF SD60M in H4…
For a while in the early 1950’s, the New Haven painted the trucks of their passenger engines silver: DL-109’s, PA-1’s, and CPA24-5’s. It was supposed to be a positive PR move to make the engines look snazzy. The practice came to an abrupt halt when a federal inspector showed up and Bad Ordered every silver trucked loco in the yard due to visual cracks. The NH painted them all black, and they never had trouble like that again.