Green Boiler Jackets - what I was told

In the early 1980s I worked with a real nice old guy named Ernie Ross who started as the painter at Burnham Shop in 1939 . He retired in 1980 . He said the D&RGW painted passenger engines with black jackets and the freight engines with green jackets . The thinking was that an on-the-spot classification could be made - if the engines were kept clean . The last engine to get the green jacket was #489 in 1950 - for a passenger special ! Another interesting aside was the bright yellow paint job on #268 and #473 was an experiment .The top brass told Ernie that if they liked the paint jobs they planned to paint all of the remaining steam power and diesels the "Grande Gold" . As it turned out ,the passenger diesels were indeed painted that way . That's what old Ernie told it to me ,God rest his sweet soul.