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  2. PFE 9245x R-30-5 in April 1943 - still in late 1920s paint?

Re: PFE 9245x R-30-5 in April 1943 - still in late 1920s paint?

Robert kirkham
 

It's a bit of a revelation for me.   Tony answered my basic question about PFE colours the other day, but my long understanding of PFE car colour - and especially the colour it faded to - was not as extreme as it should have been.    Here is another colour study from the same image as the Dry Ice reefer: https://www.loc.gov/item/2017878179/.  The Milwaukee cabooses, the other (non PFE reefers behind and also right) all show variations in colours that (to me at least) help make sense of the colour evident on PFE 72721 or 73781 - immediately above the cabooses ad partly behind the power pole.  

I’ve never done a PFE model with that colour on the sides.  Seems i have some work to do.

   

Rob

On May 16, 2022, at 8:47 AM, ed_mines via groups.io <ed_mines@...> wrote:

I've seen many B&W photos of long strings of PFE reefers on the Erie.
Some cars are light colored; some are dark.
Erie had at least one tunnel which would get very smokey with a steam locomotive. The dark colored car are probably covered with soot and grime.)
Many colorants blanch (lighten in color) in sunlight. Old Westerfield boxes are a good example.
PFE inspected every car being returned and washed some cars. I think the cleaning solution may have encouraged the color shift.
Car servicing including washing and repainting was probably limited during WWII.
Tony's excellent book has pictures of steam era PFE cars in color and they were orange.
I've seen early '50s era color pictures of PFE reefers where the car side is yellow/gold and the reweigh data is on an orange, repainted background. 
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