Have been building a lot of model freight cars of late. One question
that I have is concerning the color of freight car trucks. I have
seen pictures that have the trucks painted the same color as the car,
some black, and of course some just plain dirty because they have that
weathered well worn look. Is it proper to paint the trucks the same
as the car or is there a date when trucks were painted and then after
another date they appeared black, etc.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Jim Scott
Lompoc, CA

On Wednesday, August 27, 2003, at 12:47 PM, CalifCoast wrote:

Have been building a lot of model freight cars of late.  One question
that I have is concerning the color of freight car trucks.  I have
seen pictures that have the trucks painted the same color as the car,
some black, and of course some just plain dirty because they have that
weathered well worn look.  Is it proper to paint the trucks the same
as the car or is there a date when trucks were painted and then after
another date they appeared black, etc.

Jim:

Unfortunately, there is not a rule. It varied by road and even by
group of cars. Research or an inquiry here is your best bet.

Regards,
Ted Culotta


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

This varied a lot from railroad to railroad and also with repaintings. On
new Santa Fe the trucks were usually painted black. However, when the cars
were repainted the trucks were painted in the body color, mostly mineral
brown. The trucks on the Santa Fe's reefers and tank cars, however, were
black whether new or repainted. Black trucks were also standard on 1950s and
'60s "Shock Control" cars with Indian Red sides.

so long,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
Executive Editor
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
262-796-8776, ext. 461
Fax 262-796-1142
asperandeo@...

Jim Scott wrote:

Have been building a lot of model freight cars of late. One question
that I have is concerning the color of freight car trucks. I have
seen pictures that have the trucks painted the same color as the car,
some black, and of course some just plain dirty because they have that
weathered well worn look. Is it proper to paint the trucks the same
as the car or is there a date when trucks were painted and then after
another date they appeared black, etc.

I'm slow in responding to this, but I can add a little to what Andy
Sperandeo wrote on the subject. Commercial car builders generally painted
trucks black, regardless of body color, unless the buyer specified
otherwise, since it was easy to paint the trucks before they were fitted to
the car. But some buyers ordered cars with the trucks painted in car body
color, and some railroads that built their own cars used body color on
everything, including underframes and trucks (e.g., Santa Fe, Union
Pacific). On repainted cars, the trucks were almost always painted body
color except for tank cars, which generally had black underframes and
trucks, and refrigerator cars, whose underfrmaes and trucks were usually
painted either black or (less often) mineral red, at least through the
1950s. So, as Andy says, you can't be sure without either documentation
(such as the paint specs Ed Hawkins and Pat Wider dug out of the AC&F
archives) or photographic evidence (even b/w photos are sometimes helpful,
though they must be used with caution for obvious reasons).

It's worth noting that some manufacturers, notably Life-Like, have
researched truck colors and provided the correct color trucks in their kits
where known. Also, it's often not an issue in modeling because plain
journal trucks got dirty very quickly owing to leakage of oil from the
journal boxes. After a couple of years in service, they were grimy dark
gray with oily black around the journal boxes and, usually, some rust
around the springs, regardless of what color paint might have been
originally applied to them.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

In a message dated 8/29/03 9:02:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
rhendrickson@... writes:

<< Commercial car builders generally painted
trucks black, regardless of body color, unless the buyer specified
otherwise, since it was easy to paint the trucks before they were fitted to
the car. >>

Richard,

Heavy bodied asphalt paint (black) was widely used as a rust inhibitor on
trucks by manufacturers into 1948. In that year the AAR banned the use of these
heavy types of paints because they prevented visual inspections (for cracking)
of side frames and bolsters. Painting was still allowed; Rule 3, (t) (3e)
"parts may be coated with light bodied paint that will not prevent detection of
flaws or cracks in ordinary inspection. Car wheels must NOT be painted.
"Note -- Existing truck side frames and bolsters painted with heavy base paint or
having accumulation of rust scaled, must have such paint and scaled removed
when cars receive general repairs."

Regards,

Guy Wilber
Sparks, Nevada

Guy, your fantastic with this stuff! I knew that the painting of
the side frames and wheels on trucks was banned, but I did not know
when it took place. We are all indebted to you for your help with
this stuff, your great!
Thanks, Jerry Stewart
Chicago, Ill.



-- In STMFC@..., Guycwilber@a... wrote:

In a message dated 8/29/03 9:02:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
rhendrickson@o... writes:

<< Commercial car builders generally painted
trucks black, regardless of body color, unless the buyer specified
otherwise, since it was easy to paint the trucks before they were

fitted to

the car. >>

Richard,

Heavy bodied asphalt paint (black) was widely used as a rust

inhibitor on

trucks by manufacturers into 1948. In that year the AAR banned the

use of these

heavy types of paints because they prevented visual inspections

(for cracking)

of side frames and bolsters. Painting was still allowed; Rule 3,

(t) (3e)

"parts may be coated with light bodied paint that will not prevent

detection of

flaws or cracks in ordinary inspection. Car wheels must NOT be

painted.

"Note -- Existing truck side frames and bolsters painted with heavy

base paint or

having accumulation of rust scaled, must have such paint and scaled

removed

when cars receive general repairs."

Regards,

Guy Wilber
Sparks, Nevada

In response to my statement:

<< Commercial car builders generally painted
trucks black, regardless of body color, unless the buyer specified
otherwise, since it was easy to paint the trucks before they were fitted to
the car. >>

Guy Wilber writes:

Heavy bodied asphalt paint (black) was widely used as a rust inhibitor on
trucks by manufacturers into 1948. In that year the AAR banned the use of

these heavy types of paints because they prevented visual inspections

(for >cracking) of side frames and bolsters. Painting was still allowed;
Rule 3, (t) >(3e) "parts may be coated with light bodied paint that will
not prevent >detection of flaws or cracks in ordinary inspection. Car
wheels must NOT be >painted. "Note -- Existing truck side frames and
bolsters painted with heavy base paint or having accumulation of rust
scaled, must have such paint and scale >removed when cars receive general
repairs."

As usual, Guy's extensive research into AAR documents provides some very
useful (and little known) information. Though the lighter paint that was
still permitted on truck frames continued to be black in many cases, there
was probably less motivation after 1948 to use black instead of car body
color since rust inhibiting black asphalt paint was no longer permitted.

Richard H. Hendrickson
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Thanks to all who have written about the painting of
Freight Car Trucks.

Guy,

Does your statement mean that if I am modeling the 50s
or later, my trucks can be a mixture of black and
"same as the body" colored trucks? (Mainly SP cars)

Jim Scott
Lompoc, CA.

Guy Wilber writes:

Heavy bodied asphalt paint (black) was widely used

as a rust inhibitor on

trucks by manufacturers into 1948. In that year

the AAR banned the use of

these heavy types of paints because they prevented

visual inspections

(for >cracking) of side frames and bolsters.

Painting was still allowed;

Rule 3, (t) >(3e) "parts may be coated with light

bodied paint that will

not prevent >detection of flaws or cracks in

ordinary inspection. Car

wheels must NOT be >painted. "Note -- Existing

truck side frames and

bolsters painted with heavy base paint or having

accumulation of rust

scaled, must have such paint and scale >removed

when cars receive general

repairs."

__________________________________
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Guy,
I've been doin' some homework in this area myself. Rule 3, section t,
paragraph 3e of the AAR rules was added to the rulebook with the January
1, 1947 issue. The 1949 issue had this paragraph revised to conform to a
May 1, 1948 circular letter.

The original (3-e) was as follows:
"New or secondhand truck sides or other truck parts must not be painted
with heavy
asphaltic, tar or cement base paints which prevent detection of flaws in
ordinary
inspection. If such parts are painted, only light bodied paints may be
used."

Evidently wheels could be painted with light bodied paint like the truck
as nothing is said
about NOT painting wheels.

Later,
Bill

Heavy bodied asphalt paint (black) was widely used as a rust
inhibitor on trucks by manufacturers into 1948. In that year the AAR

banned the

use of these heavy types of paints because they prevented visual

inspections (for

cracking) of side frames and bolsters. Painting was still allowed;

Rule 3,

(t) (3e) "parts may be coated with light bodied paint that will not

prevent

detection of flaws or cracks in ordinary inspection. Car wheels must

NOT be

painted. "Note -- Existing truck side frames and bolsters painted with

heavy

base paint or having accumulation of rust scaled, must have such paint

and scaled

removed when cars receive general repairs."

________________________________________________________________
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In a message dated 8/31/03 12:55:28 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
wbkelly@... writes:

<< I've been doin' some homework in this area myself. Rule 3, section t,
paragraph 3e of the AAR rules was added to the rulebook with the January
1, 1947 issue. The 1949 issue had this paragraph revised to conform to a
May 1, 1948 circular letter. >>

Thanks Bill,

I am glad that you ad a copy of the 1947 Rules to clarify.

I could find no reference what-so-ever to this modification within my data
covering 1945, 1946 or 194, and wrongly assumed that the Rule was implemented in
1948 (in total). The May 1, 1948 circular came directly from the Mechanical
Division's General Committee -- in other words, it was not voted on by the
membership, and I presume the same procedure was used for the change within the
1947 Rules.

The 1948 reports reads: "Upon complaints of a number of member roads
regarding the impossibility of locating cracks in truck side frames due to the use of
heavy bodied asphaltic paints, the General Committee approved recommendation
by the Arbitration and Car Construction Committee to revise Section (t) (3-e)
of Interchange Rule 3.

Kind Regards,

Guy Wilber
Sparks, Nevada