Translations for the non-UP experts out there:

ROTS: "Road Of The Streamliners"
SAW: "Serves All the West"
BSSUP: "Be Specific - Ship Union Pacific"

Regards,

-Jeff


From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of Dick Harley
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 4:17 PM
To: STMFC
Subject: [STMFC] RE: UP freight car lettering color dates/repaint intervals.



Here are some dates that may be of interest:

1936 to Nov. 1949 - ROTS slogan on right side / SAW slogan on left
side of UP boxcars.
Roman style lettering & slogans are initially white lead;
slogans become Armour Yellow in late 1930s.

June 1939 - Gothic circle "O" style lettering starts on UP freight
cars.
Lettering is white; slogans are Armour Yellow.

July 1947 - change lettering color to Armour Yellow on most UP
freight cars (e.g. not tank cars).

Nov. 1949 to Nov. 1953 - ROTS slogan on right side / BSSUP slogan
on left side of UP boxcars.
Lettering & slogans are Armour Yellow.

Dec. 1950 - spacing between two lines of BSSUP slogan increased to
18".

Nov. 1953 to 1961 - BSSUP slogan on both sides of UP boxcars.
Lettering & slogans are Armour Yellow.

Aug. 1956 - "Union Pacific" lettering changed from 10" circle "O"
style Gothic to 20" oval "O" style Gothic on UP boxcars.

While I have no firm data, I would think that a generalized interval
for freight car repainting would be hard to come by. Economic
conditions (car use, labor availability - already busy painting new
cars, money for paint), political conditions (wars, public image),
management ideas (do they care if the cars are clean or dirty), etc.
were not constant, yet all would affect freight car repaint
intervals. It took a few years to repaint all the captive UP
cabooses from red to yellow starting in 1947. Without shop records,
photos are the next best evidence. And, what you are trying to
determine is whether the lettering and slogan are the same color on
each car. So even if dirty, we're comparing dirty white against
dirty yellow.

Cheers,
Dick Harley
Laguna Beach, CA

Here are some dates that may be of interest:

1936 to Nov. 1949 - ROTS slogan on right side / SAW slogan on left side of UP boxcars.
Roman style lettering & slogans are initially white lead; slogans become Armour Yellow in late 1930s.

June 1939 - Gothic circle "O" style lettering starts on UP freight cars.
Lettering is white; slogans are Armour Yellow.

July 1947 - change lettering color to Armour Yellow on most UP freight cars (e.g. not tank cars).

Nov. 1949 to Nov. 1953 - ROTS slogan on right side / BSSUP slogan on left side of UP boxcars.
Lettering & slogans are Armour Yellow.

Dec. 1950 - spacing between two lines of BSSUP slogan increased to 18".

Nov. 1953 to 1961 - BSSUP slogan on both sides of UP boxcars.
Lettering & slogans are Armour Yellow.

Aug. 1956 - "Union Pacific" lettering changed from 10" circle "O" style Gothic to 20" oval "O" style Gothic on UP boxcars.


While I have no firm data, I would think that a generalized interval for freight car repainting would be hard to come by. Economic conditions (car use, labor availability - already busy painting new cars, money for paint), political conditions (wars, public image), management ideas (do they care if the cars are clean or dirty), etc. were not constant, yet all would affect freight car repaint intervals. It took a few years to repaint all the captive UP cabooses from red to yellow starting in 1947. Without shop records, photos are the next best evidence. And, what you are trying to determine is whether the lettering and slogan are the same color on each car. So even if dirty, we're comparing dirty white against dirty yellow.

Cheers,
Dick Harley
Laguna Beach, CA

Denny,

Does your question pertain to box cars or stock cars?

Regards,

-Jeff


From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of Denny Anspach
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:41 AM
To: Steam Era Freight Car List
Subject: [STMFC] UP freight car lettering color dates/repaint intervals.



I understand that the standard UP freight car lettering changed from
white to yellow after 1948. I would presume that any given car would
not have been so repainted after 1947 until the regular time arrived
for routine repainting would have arrived, which could be a date
considerably later than 1948. I do not know what the UP's usual
chosen interval might have been for such boxcar repaints, but again
(presuming, of course!) if a whole class of cars were last painted/
rebuilt in 1938, then they might last well into the 1950's, even to
retirement, white lettering and all still intact?

It is difficult for me to discern dirty white from yellow on B&W photos.

Denny
Denny S. Anspach MD
Sacramento

Anecdotally speaking, some cars built in 1940 were repainted for
the first time in the mid to late 1950's, and there are published
photos of UP box cars with white & yellow lettering in the mid 50's
if not later. Needless to say many were never repainted again after
they got their Be Specific paint...

Tim O'Connor

Hi Denny,

Actually, Terry Metcalfe's book, "Union Pacific Freight Cars, 1936-51," gives the date of the change from white lettering with yellow slogans to all yellow as the beginning of July 1947. He quotes various dates from correspondence and drawings, but they mostly cluster around that time. As far as I can recall, however, he doesn't say anything about the interval at which cars were repainted.

So long,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
Executive Editor
Model Railroader magazine
asperandeo@...
262-796-8776, ext. 461
FAX 262-796-1142

I understand that the standard UP freight car lettering changed from white to yellow after 1948. I would presume that any given car would not have been so repainted after 1947 until the regular time arrived for routine repainting would have arrived, which could be a date considerably later than 1948. I do not know what the UP's usual chosen interval might have been for such boxcar repaints, but again (presuming, of course!) if a whole class of cars were last painted/ rebuilt in 1938, then they might last well into the 1950's, even to retirement, white lettering and all still intact?

It is difficult for me to discern dirty white from yellow on B&W photos.

Denny
Denny S. Anspach MD
Sacramento