Bill,

To help answer your question, I have a number of in-service photos that can be used to bracket the date. 

EJ&E 61205 was built “new 8-48" with a scheme painted freight car red. A photo taken 6-24-51 of EJ&E 60651, built 7-41, had been repainted in the green scheme with orange stencils & system map. While the car shows fresh repack stencils that I decipher as 5-21-51, the reweigh stencils on the repainted car were “J-0-49” that indicates the car was likely repainted at Joliet, Illinois sometime in 1949. The “0-49” doesn’t make sense to me as the “0” should represent a month. 

Perhaps others have photos or other data that can narrow the time period, but these two photos deduce that the change to green sides & orange stencils occurred after 8-48 and before an unknown month in 1949.

Incidentally, can you point to the RPC volume number that says 1946? Thank you. 

Regards,

Ed Hawkins