Adrian,

If the car has a ball keystone and looks brown, then what you are seeing is the accumulated filth of many years service and bleaching of the oxide FCC. On the other hand, if it has the shadow keystone it is most likely done in the darker red, bordering on brown.
Hope this helps.

Fred Freitas

major_denis_bloodnok <smokeandsteam@...> wrote:
--- In STMFC@..., "ed_mines" <ed_mines@...> wrote:

Zinc chromate orange is suggested for the "freight car red" shade

of PRR

freight cars.

The offical pigment was Iron Sesquioxide which is a manufactured form
of iron oxide. It is available in artists colours as "Mars Red" which
is a very orange shade of red oxide. That matches the common
description of the old PRR freight car color as "seriously orange".

(A recipe for 19th century FCC can be found at
http://books.google.com/books?id=J90JAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA461&lpg=PA461)

Anyone else feel that PRR freight cars don't weather to an orange

color?

If you weather a car painted in Mars Red with a dark blackish brown
sooty sort of wash you end up with a colour that is essentially
similar to Modelflex "Light Tuscan Oxide Red" which has beeen
recommended by some PRR modellers as a good match for FCC in service-
the weathered colour is much redder than it started out, but stil not
really a chocolate brown.

That said, FCC did change over the years, becoming rather darker and
browner during the fifties - I don't know quite when this happened so
perhaps one of the PRR experten can weigh in here? It may be that the
gon you mention was finished in this later paint

Aidrian