Tony Thompson wrote:
I'm not so sure, Eric. The ones I looked at close-up at Rocketdyne's
siding in the 1970s were clearly silver in among the tanks and inside
the structure. The outer parts had weathered to a gray appearance.
This is always a problem with silver vs. gray for paint out in the
weather.

Eric Bracher replied:
the cars i saw were in the 1955-1970's. they always looked very
gray to me as they were parked next to the 101 freeway.

Go to the Library of Congress American Memory website at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html

and search using the keyword "Dahinda".

This will turn up are several Jack Delano photos of a troublesome
pair of USNX helium cars in a freight on the Santa Fe in March 1943.
They're black and white photos, but you can see that the tanks are
definitely more reflective than the rest of the car.


Ben Hom