On Oct 19, 2022, at 4:42 PM, Geodyssey <east@...> wrote:

What evidence is there that the lettering on these three cars is Dulux Gold and not orange?  Not the whole series of cars, just the cars in the photo.  Diagrams and reality don't always match.

In the photo, the lettering looks very orange.  It looks so much like PFE / Daylight orange that, if modeling the car, I'd use Daylight orange vs Dulux Gold aka "tan".

If it is Dulux Gold lettering, what would a photo of car with DL orange lettering look like?

Great photo.

Rob Simpson

-----------------------

The lettering diagram says Dulux Gold, and I’m sure that's what it is. But decal makers have always struggled to get a “gold” color letter over a dark green car. The Thin Film SP passenger decals look orange on the sheet, but are indeed gold on a Dark Olive Green car.

 

Tony Thompson

On Oct 19, 2022, at 4:42 PM, Geodyssey <east@...> wrote:

What evidence is there that the lettering on these three cars is Dulux Gold and not orange?  Not the whole series of cars, just the cars in the photo.  Diagrams and reality don't always match.

In the photo, the lettering looks very orange.  It looks so much like PFE / Daylight orange that, if modeling the car, I'd use Daylight orange vs Dulux Gold aka "tan".

If it is Dulux Gold lettering, what would a photo of car with DL orange lettering look like?

Great photo.

Rob Simpson

-----------------------

The lettering diagram says Dulux Gold, and I’m sure that's what it is. But decal makers have always struggled to get a “gold” color letter over a dark green car. The Thin Film SP passenger decals look orange on the sheet, but are indeed gold on a Dark Olive Green car.

 

Tony Thompson

That is a magnificent photo, the cars look splendid, thank you for posting it Richard!  This reminds me of a question I had about these cars sometime ago.  Did they mostly stay on the west coast or on SP lines anyway, or did they roam the national network?

Hi, Chris. These cars, like all of PFE’s express reefers, were assigned to the Railway Express pool, as were the express cars of many railroads (I provided a list in the PFE book). They certainly COULD go everywhere, and no doubt did, but the car owners were responsible for any maintenance beyond minor repairs, so they did tend to operate regionally, or get sent home from distant destinations.

Tony Thompson

Another Dallas Gilbertson image of PFE 901, 902 and 903 at Santa Maria, CA in May 1953. Tom Dill Collection, Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive.

The PNRA is fortunate to have photo descriptions written by Dallas and for this one he states:

"PFE express reefers. The first three of fifty freight reefers converted to express reefer service with high-speed trucks and passenger train equipment. I’ve been told these cars were not altogether a success because they couldn’t take enough lading to entitle the shipper to a carload rate, which was based on the capacity of a fifty foot car."

Richard Wilkens

Attachments:

• DAG14-029.jpg