Brown Freight car trucks
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Robert G P
Hey everyone, At shows I have been seeing a lot of brown trucks on second hand cars. I personally do not care for the look and prefer black painted trucks. But thats just me. My question is, did any road actually paint the trucks the same color as the car? I have not heard of that whatsoever. Did brown painted trucks exist? Many thanks, -R |
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Nelson Moyer
Yes, several roads painted trucks freight car red including ATSF, B&O, CB&Q, D&H, D&RGW, GN, IC, L&N, M&StL, MILW, N&W, NP, NYC, RI, PRR, and others. If you’re a prototype modeler, it’s not about your preferences, but about prototype accuracy.
Nelson Moyer
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
On Behalf Of Robert G P
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2022 9:06 AM To: RealSTMFC@groups.io Subject: [RealSTMFC] Brown Freight car trucks
Hey everyone,
At shows I have been seeing a lot of brown trucks on second hand cars. I personally do not care for the look and prefer black painted trucks. But thats just me.
My question is, did any road actually paint the trucks the same color as the car? I have not heard of that whatsoever. Did brown painted trucks exist?
Many thanks, -R |
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The Southern Pacific consistently painted the cars and trucks the same color during the 1950's as far as I can tell. And it continued, inconsistently, for years in the 1960's. Thus oxide red, gray, black, or even dark olive green. On 11/19/2022 12:31 PM, Nelson Moyer wrote:
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Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts |
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Nelson Moyer
It would be nice to compile a complete list of roads that painted trucks FCR, so hopefully group members will please fill in the blanks. I just reported based upon resin kits I’ve built, so my list is just the beginning.
Nelson Moyer
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
On Behalf Of Tim O'Connor
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2022 12:27 PM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Brown Freight car trucks
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Rupert Gamlen
The Burlington was renowned for being parsimonious. From a lengthy report on the CB&Q’s Aurora Shops -
It has been the custom for all time to paint the trucks black. This necessitated the changing of pots and brushes when the painting of the body was finished and work commenced on the trucks. The company is commencing now to paint the trucks the same color as the body of the car. This appears to be a small matter, but in the course of a year the time saved in changing, and the cost of extra pots, brushes, etc. dispensed with, amounts to a very considerable little sum. Railway Review 1887 vol. 27 page 694
This policy was maintained until the introduction of the Chinese red colour scheme in 1958.
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
On Behalf Of Tim O'Connor
Sent: Sunday, 20 November 2022 7:27 am To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Brown Freight car trucks
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Jeffrey White
I have some photos of IC hopper cars with trucks the same color as the brown carbody. Jeff White Alma IL On 11/19/2022 9:06 AM, Robert G P
wrote:
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Ray Breyer
And as importantly, add a note to that list stating that any truck not painted should be colored to reflect aged, rusty & oily bare metal. So some form of dark brown and not "black", which conveys the idea of nothing more than "toy choo choo!" to most of us. (and don't forget about trucks painted gray on LOs in that list) Ray Breyer Elgin, IL
On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:34:40 PM CST, Nelson Moyer <npmoyer@...> wrote:
It would be nice to compile a complete list of roads that painted trucks FCR, so hopefully group members will please fill in the blanks. I just reported based upon resin kits I’ve built, so my list is just the beginning.
Nelson Moyer
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
On Behalf Of Tim O'Connor
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2022 12:27 PM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Brown Freight car trucks
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spsalso
GN painted their freight car trucks "mineral red" up to and including the vermilion scheme. The glacier scheme got black trucks, as did Big Sky blue.
Ed Edward Sutorik |
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Josh
As others have already provided ample evidence for, painting the trucks the same as the carbody was probably more common post-1900 than painting trucks black. Pre-1900, it was very common for the trucks to be painted black because brown paints were usually made from iron oxides (rust) mixed with linseed oil and there was a belief that slathering rust all over your ironwork would exacerbate its oxidation and decomposition; hence, ironwork like grab irons, hardware, trucks, tension rods, brake gear, was painted with a black paint, usually made from asphaltum or bitumen. Once enamel and other chemical based paints became common, this concern was no longer valid. I will respectfully disagree with Ray's statement that black trucks make the train look toy-like - because plenty of railroads did actually paint the trucks black. The problem would be representing a well-used car without weathering the sideframes. |
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Adam Chilcote
WM painted trucks and couplers body color. I can't promise the coupler comment is accurate for the era of this group, but in the 60s and 70s at least, their couplers got a LOT of overspray.
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