Hi gang.
Not to sound like a complete nimrod, but does anyone out there know where the tradition of steam locos being painted black might have started and why?.
Just curious.
Tracklayer
There might be two reasons for this – black was the only color of paint that would stick to metal and withstand the heat when steam engines were first invented, and black was less prone to show dirt than a brighter color.
Remember Henry Ford’s comment about his cars – “You can have it in any color you want, as long as it’s black.”
imagine a long freight train doubleheaded by one locomotive painted pink and another painted puce. hard to think of. probably black because it wouldn’t have to be cleaned as often. another question would be why some steam loco cab roofs are painted red. i think it has something to do being resistant to the chemicals in the exhaust smoke but if someone knows the correct answer pipe up.
Black was also cheaper.
I suspect it wasn’t so much a color choice - i.e. somebody just deciding engines would look good painted black - as it was that black paint was more durable on the metal. Remember before 1859 or so, all paint was made from natural colors, which affected it’s price and durability. (That’s why boxcars and barns are dark red, dark red paint was created by using iron-ore bearing dirt or clay, which produced a very tough and inexpensive paint.) Most likely the black paint just wore better than the brighter colors that had been common.
I know that “Russian Iron” boilers, sort of a greenish-blue, was common in the 19th century…although I think that was the metal of the boiler itself, not paint (although many railroads copied that color in the 20th century, like Great Northern’s “Glacier Park” scheme.
Parts that got hot, like the smokebox and firebox, weren’t painted (the paint would burn off) and instead were covered with a mixture of oil and graphite, giving those parts of the engine a light gray color.
Hi,
All the previous postings have valid answers (imho), which gave me pause to wonder…
What color would the same locos be painted if built today? Well, today, you can get any color you want in paint that would handle high temps and adhere to metal (powdercoat !). Even so, I still believe that black would be the predominate color - as it would have to endure soot, smoke, cinders, dirt, oils, etc., etc., etc.
Of course if the exhaust was cleaned up, then maybe earthtones would work just fine - as they wouldn’t show the dirt.
And while we’re here, what if early rolling stock were built with all the paints readily available? Instead of boxcar red and black, what would the predominate colors be???
Hey, ENJOY,
Mobilman44
steam locomotives were not always painted black. The earliest locomotives had wood (!)insulation around the actual boiler, the outside of which was sometimes painted, oft times not. Starting in 1845 metal jacketing was placed over the wood insulation (1845 first known “jacket” covering boiler insulation installed on Little Miami RR locomotive “Milford”) The jackets were painted bright colors to draw attention to the locomtove. Reds were popular, Schenectady liked vivid blues. Take a look at the Jupiter and 119 at the Golden Spike. Russia Iron was a popular rust resistant planished iron used in jacketing up to the first world war. It could be any color from stovepipe blue to green to redish to grey or silver. (An expert could tell where the jacket sheet was made just from the color!)
Bright colors were the rule up until the 1880s. With the change from wood to coal for fuel it became increasingly expensive to maintain the often unique paint jobs. A man named Lauder, Superintendant of the Old Colony Railroad in Massachusetts, under pressure to reduce operating expenses, got the idea of painting everything on the locomotive black. He also put a second trick crew on the locomotives, which previously had been under the operation & care of a single engineer and fireman, thus getting twice as much work out of each locomotive. By doing this he was nearly able to put all the engine wipers and cleaners to work doing other jobs (those who were lucky enough not to get fired.)
Roads which followed his lead were described as being “Laudercised.” About this time, and for similar reasons, passenger cars which had been (generally) previously painted bright yellows were painted dark reds and dark green, so the coal soot wouldn’t show as much.
In England, the birthplace of the steam locomotive, and many other parts of the world, too, locos were painted in colours other than black right up to the end of steam. Other than those faces on the smokebox front, Thomas and his friends are much more prototypical than many North Americans realise. [swg]
Wayne
There is also a story (urban myth) that during the 1880s and 90s when the RRs were the BIG money makers in America that there was public criticism about the gaudy decorations used on locomotives - not unlike how we sake our heads at sports starts and movie people in this day. Reportedly Commodore Vanderbilt on hearing the criticism said to cover everything in black so there would be nothing to complain about.
It may be just a false impression that locomitives were predominately black. The reason being that only black and white photos exist from that time and actual color information on the locomitives of the era is spotty at best.
It took the unearthing of an obscure newspaper article on the joining of the rails to get the paint right on the Jupiter replica. The actual paint scheme turned out to be much “brighter” (some might say gaudier) than most historians had believed possible.
-George
Steam locomotives by nature was a filthy beast with flying cinders,coal dust,smoke etc not like the well kept excursion or museum pieces you see today.
As a example.
I’m thinking it had something to do with showing soot and dirt. Especially with passenger trains, how can you attract customers to ride your train when you have a bright red locomotive when it gets dirty in 5 minutes of operation? I would imagine that washing locos was on the bottom of the maintenance list.
another question would be why some steam loco cab roofs are painted red.
As faras the PRR I always thought it was a means of identifying which division a locomotive was assigned.
Why is it steam locos with smoke lifters aren’t usually black, but a lighter color?
That would seem unlikely, since many railroads did it (Great Northern for example).
It’s certainly true that engines weren’t all black early on. I suspect it could be similar to asking why did so many railroads had intricate colorful paint schemes on their diesels in the forties and fifties, but went to simpler schemes later - the cost of maintaining the intricate schemes just got to be too much. Easier to use a simplified scheme, or in the case of steam just black.
Keep in mind re expenses that in 1873 and again in 1893 the US went thru major “panics” or depressions. I suspect the decline in colorful high-maintenance paint schemes was connected to that. Plus overall in the later Victorian age, things got more conservative. When artificial inexpensive paint came in c.1859 there was a splash of color - people painting their house with six or seven different trim colors for example. That had started to tone down to a more modern simplified ideal by the 1880’s-1890’s. White or yellow passenger cars became Pullman Green about the same time.
UK engines used colors, dark green or maroon most commonly. Their engines may have been jacketed differently so maybe the paint worked better/longer…or they just had fewer engines going shorter distances, so were more able to maintain them??
They may be “museum pieces” today, but they accurately reflect the color schemes of the day. Back then, railroads were “new technology” and locomotives were a significant capital investment. Railroads took pride in their trains and crews took pride in their locomotives.
-George
According to the system wide painting instructions of 1929 all PRR locomotive cab roofs were painted first oxide red, then another coat of 75% red/ 25% black and finally another coat of 50% red / 40% black. Also the top of the tender including the slope sheet was to be painted oxide red. The major part of the locomotive was to be painted “DGLE” or Dark Green Locomotive Enamel. Parts to be painted black were pilot wheels, trailing truck wheels, tender frame and tender trucks and wheels and the locomotive running board.
It was not a division practice unless the shop was not following the instructions.
Rick
Most steam locos in the 20th century were painted black because black was/is cheap, it matches the color of cinders & hot ashes, black goes great with grey smokeboxes, & black stem locos didn’t have to be cleaned very often because of black’s match with cinders & ashes.
Black was common on steam locos during the great depression becuase it was cheap. Also durning WWI & WWII, railroads had surpluses of steam engines. If they were all painted blue or yellow, the locos would have to be cleaned a lot and that meant lots of money. If all locos were painted black, that meant not a lot of money. With all that extra money, the could buy new locomotives and equipment.
Umm, no… That’s not how I read about it, anyway. During both wars, traffic was so heavy (especially WWII), that even old locos waiting to be scrapped were given a quick tune-up and pressed into service.
No less than the mighty Pennsylvania, owner and builder of nearly 10,000 steam locomotives over its 110-year steam-era existance was nearly broken by WWII traffic demands. Chief among the stresses of the war, along with the wear-and-tear on the right-of-way, was the toll it took on the loco fleet.
To make matters worse, during WWII, railroads were not allowed to experiment with new locomotive designs. They were restricted to purchasing or building new locomotives based on proven, existing designs. When Pennsy tried to ease the stress on its steam fleet during WWII, it had to use a C&O design for its J1 class 2-10-4s. PRR was “experimenting” with duplexes and turbines, but mass production had to wait until after the war.
Most other American railroads found themselves in the same pinch, especially during WWII.
Thanks for all of the replies folks. Like I said in the beginning, I was just curious. And like some of the members have expressed, I too just don’t think I could feel the same way about an orange or yellow 4-8-4 Northern as I would a good old black one trimmed in white…
Tracklayer