The continuing saga of my Bridge continues. Up until this point I have been painting all my bridges mat black but part of me wants to reflect the “unique” character of the MESS. I was thinking something along the lines of a dark Hunter or Forest Green. I know Canadian National paints their bridge a drab olive green [xx(]. Is there other RR’s that used colours beside black or silver? Was there a reason why everyone stuck with black or Silver?
Fergie
A lot of more recent bridges seem to be light green. I don’t know how many railroads had their own unique color for bridges, they just got them in silver or black or green and installed them. Before Amtrak they sometimes added the railroad name or herald, and some slogan relating to the railroad’s top passenger train etc. That seems to be pretty rare in recent years.
There were a few that did use a unique color for bridges.
Black and silver were most common, but this is only partially due to a color preference. In fact, this was just as much a matter of paint technology as choice. Black came first, then silver/aluminum became widespread before WWII, although it didn’t totally replace black.
The next most common color was likely mineral red or some other oxide red color. Beyond that, prices probably limited the choice of colors, as they tended to be more expensive and did not hold up as well, necessitating more frequent repainting.
They also, had a lot of,lead in the paint back then,that limited the use of colors, the cost, factor, and how long will it last…key points…
Cheers,
Frank
The Reading RR painted some of their bridges with green paint and white lettering. I have seen this firsthand on a bridge near where I live. I don’t know if there are any photos, but the bridge is beside Carpenter Technologies (used to be Carpenter Steel) in Reading, Pa. The bridge is easily visible from the highway, so a quick search on Google Maps and a bit of Street Viewing should give you a good idea of what the bridge looks like.
S&S
There are a few that have been painted in a safety orange ( not as bright as blaze orange ), and a few concrete ones where the color is…well, older concrete. One structural girder bridge was painted In a light blue, but black, silver and primer red dominate the color spectrum as far as my research shows. Most railroad heralds and logos show well against a black background, so I made mine flat black, decaled for Great Northern and dull coated. Cedarwoodron
Perhaps not all of them: there are a lot of CNR bridges around here, and all the ones I’ve seen were black. [swg]
Regardless of that, this is one of those places where your road can set it’s own standards, and I don’t think that a dark green would look out-of-place or too unusual. We will, of course, expect pictures. [swg]
Wayne
My chosen prototype, in the time frame I model, had just gotten away from painting all steelwork oxide red. Their more recent choice? A lovely aqua shade - I kid you not.
Just what I always wanted. Baby blue bridges…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with oxide red bridges)
I have seen black, oxide red and various shades of a light to medium green. I think the red is primer and cost made it easier to leave them that way, rather than finish. Several times I have seen bridges that had been primed with red and the finish color only part done and no staging left on site. Don’t know if the unfinished work was end of season or lack of funds.
Good luck,
Richard
The UP painted a lot of its bridges an oxide green color, kind of an aolive green.
The MP standard was a first coat of one quart of Rust-O-Leum dark blue paint mixed in 5 gallons of aluminum paint. The second coat was straight aluminum paint.
Aluminum paint wouldn’t have been common until probably the 1930’s or WW2 or so. Before then aluminum would have been too expensive
One reason for silver would be that it reflects UV and therefore might actually protect itself from the breaking down of the paint. I think another factor would be to contrast the rust spots that need re-coating. Silver might be good for this; but, black which is far and away the most popular color choice, maybe not so much! Black bridges seem to turn a rusty black, over time.
Good question! Do any of the Bridges, Tunnels and Trestle books discuss the reasons for color choices?
One other thought- when metal water towers became common- particularly with respect to GN and other western railroads, the dominant colors were oxide red, silver and black as well. Cedarwoodron
When I was a kid, a friend of the family ran the paint shop for the Ministry Of Transportation And Highways for the Province of British Columbia. Here they made all the signs for all the highways in the Province. They also had huge paint stores where all that green paint was stored for all those bridges and signs. There were other colours for things like guard rails and what ever else the Province owned like structures etc. B.C. is a big Province, so you can imagine the size of this Paint shop/warehouse.
Why was everything painted green? It was always the first question ask of any new (and sometimes repeat[:-^]) visitor to the paint shop by our friend. Because green is the cheapest paint to make. In fact there was a tongue and cheek sign on the wall that said " you better have a good reason for not painting it green".
I remember ( as a kid ) the Moms telling the Dads they better never paint the house green or else! It meant you were not well off and that’s the best one could afford.[(-D]
I don’t know if it still holds true today but the cost difference fifty years ago between green and other colours was noteworthy. Especially when talking thousands of Litres of paint.
I would think black would be the majority, I lived in a big C.P.R. town, if it wasn’t black it was what we called C.P.R. red, boxcars, buildings, everything was of these 2 colours, I think that was the only colour paint C.P.R. ever used, even the dinky C.N.R. line in town stayed within these colours, maybe they borrowed the paint from the C.P.R.
you won’t go wrong with black
The red is probably,Zinc Chromate,primer, same as the Golden Gate Bridge, Black and White,aren’t considered,colors,
Cheers,
Frank