Re: Colorful Steam Locomotives.
| December 24, 2007 11:22PM |
|
Doug,
Back in the big mess that was an argument over jackets, I mentioned that the most "common" color for locomotives as a whole were greens. This of course would be before 1920 when Baldwin stopped painting locomotives green unless the customer specified otherwise. Not all railroads favored the green and went for black, the D&RG was getting black locomotives from Baldwin in the 1880s, of course "black" in those days still meant colorful striping (red, imitation gold, cream) and a planished iron boiler jacket. I've been devoting a large amount of my time researching locomotive colors although I am no where near as knowledgeable as many others out there. Locomotives before 1900 were still fanciful machines and great care was taken in their appearance. The simplist black locomotive could be done up beautifully as in the case of Porter locomotives which were primarily for industrial use which still had Gilt or Color (Imitation Gold) striping. D&RG's K-27s were delivered in black, with planished iron jackets, gold striping, and bright red side rods. The bright red would only be painted on the side rod centers. Even shortlines kept up their handsome images, the Virginia and Truckee railroad painted their locomotives Brown with Red drivers until about 1902.
When you think of a locomotive it is important to note that the builders of the time not only were trying to produce a quality product but a good looking product as well. Each manufacturer had their own standard paint job often more elaborate than a customer would want. Many builders took pride in their work among the builders that took the most was Mason. We have all seen builders photos of the beautiful Mason Bogies which were designed to be not only functional but beautiful as well. Personally I poured many hours sifting through research and photographs to reconstruct the North Pacific Coast Railroad's "Bully Boy" with a good friend of mine, the result is a locomotive which is beautiful and yet fuctional locomotive that lives up to its name.* My drawing is not complete, I left a number of stripes off this version of artwork as it was used for a T-Shirt.
*: The term "Bully" had a much different connotation during the gilded age, it meant "handsome" rather than what we associate the word with these days.
Andrew Brandon
A fixture here since Y2k.
[www.pacificng.com]
[www.spnghs.org]
"An end to red domes in our lifetime!"
Back in the big mess that was an argument over jackets, I mentioned that the most "common" color for locomotives as a whole were greens. This of course would be before 1920 when Baldwin stopped painting locomotives green unless the customer specified otherwise. Not all railroads favored the green and went for black, the D&RG was getting black locomotives from Baldwin in the 1880s, of course "black" in those days still meant colorful striping (red, imitation gold, cream) and a planished iron boiler jacket. I've been devoting a large amount of my time researching locomotive colors although I am no where near as knowledgeable as many others out there. Locomotives before 1900 were still fanciful machines and great care was taken in their appearance. The simplist black locomotive could be done up beautifully as in the case of Porter locomotives which were primarily for industrial use which still had Gilt or Color (Imitation Gold) striping. D&RG's K-27s were delivered in black, with planished iron jackets, gold striping, and bright red side rods. The bright red would only be painted on the side rod centers. Even shortlines kept up their handsome images, the Virginia and Truckee railroad painted their locomotives Brown with Red drivers until about 1902.
When you think of a locomotive it is important to note that the builders of the time not only were trying to produce a quality product but a good looking product as well. Each manufacturer had their own standard paint job often more elaborate than a customer would want. Many builders took pride in their work among the builders that took the most was Mason. We have all seen builders photos of the beautiful Mason Bogies which were designed to be not only functional but beautiful as well. Personally I poured many hours sifting through research and photographs to reconstruct the North Pacific Coast Railroad's "Bully Boy" with a good friend of mine, the result is a locomotive which is beautiful and yet fuctional locomotive that lives up to its name.* My drawing is not complete, I left a number of stripes off this version of artwork as it was used for a T-Shirt.
*: The term "Bully" had a much different connotation during the gilded age, it meant "handsome" rather than what we associate the word with these days.
Andrew Brandon
A fixture here since Y2k.
[www.pacificng.com]
[www.spnghs.org]
"An end to red domes in our lifetime!"
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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