Hi folks,

just taken delivery of my third NYC's rebuilt USRA gon (F&C kit) and,
for variety (having finished the first two in freight car red/brown) I
rather fancy finishing it in the earlier NYC black colour scheme which
was applied, according to the instructions, throught to 1942. Couple of
questions first though...

1. Was the lettering any different to that supplied with the kit?

2. Would the black scheme still be seen in the mid-50s (when my layout
will be set)??

A pointer to a pic verifying either/both would be a bonus!

Thanks

Alan,
London, UK


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On Oct 13, 2008, at 9:25 AM, Monk Alan wrote:

just taken delivery of my third NYC's rebuilt USRA gon (F&C kit) and,
for variety (having finished the first two in freight car red/brown) I
rather fancy finishing it in the earlier NYC black colour scheme which
was applied, according to the instructions, throught to 1942.
Couple of
questions first though...

1. Was the lettering any different to that supplied with the kit?

Alan, I built mine years ago, so I'm not certain, but my
recollection is that I supplemented the kit decals, which (as was
often true of F&C) weren't very good. Of course, they may be better
now.

2. Would the black scheme still be seen in the mid-50s (when my layout
will be set)??

Well, as they say in your part of the English speaking world, not
bloody likely. By the mid-'50s many of these cars had been retired
or rebuilt, so their numbers were declining, and though a few might
have survived that long with black paint, modeling one would verge on
the implausible.

A pointer to a pic verifying either/both would be a bonus!

I have several photos of what appear (in B/W photos) to be black NYC
gons dating from the 1930s, but none later than that.

Richard Hendrickson

--- In STMFC@..., Richard Hendrickson <rhendrickson@...>
wrote:

On Oct 13, 2008, at 9:25 AM, Monk Alan wrote:

2. Would the black scheme still be seen in the mid-50s (when my layout
will be set)??

And Richard replied:

Well, as they say in your part of the English speaking world, not
bloody likely. By the mid-'50s many of these cars had been retired
or rebuilt, so their numbers were declining, and though a few might
have survived that long with black paint, modeling one would verge on
the implausible.

From http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/NYC-MODELS-FREIGHT.htm I quote:

"An issue that keeps coming up concerns the color used on NYC freight
cars - primarily the open top cars ( hoppers, flat cars and gondolas
), since during different time periods, they were painted either
freight car brown or Black. So here is the answer based on Railroad
documents, as outlined in various issues of the NYCSHS Headlight:

* All NYC hoppers, flat cars and gondolas were painted black prior to
February 20, 1941.

* From February 20, 1941 to June 6, 1956 they were painted freight car
brown.

* After June 6, 1956, [cars painted at] shops equipped for handling
F-1 black car cement, between April 1 and October 1 were BLACK. [Cars
painted at] shops NOT equipped for handling F-1 cement and ALL shops
between October 1 and April 1 were freight car brown. This information
comes from Specification P-18, Painting Open Top and Flat Cars, first
issued December 28, 1921. In practice, it seems that locations with
inside paint facilities used black F-1 cement year round and these
locations accounted for the preponderance of cars painted."

So, in the late steam era, black NYC gons and hoppers would be seen,
and fairly recently painted.

Walt Lankenau