Re: Color Hints for DSP&P #15 “Breckenridge”

Back in the 1970's, Art Wallace, the authority regarding Mason Locomotives and later the author of the book "Mason Steam Locomotives" (2004), was a regular customer at my fathers hobby shop in Littleton, Colorado. My father had a Balboa HOn3 2-8-6T Mason that I wanted to paint as the DSP&P "Denver". My father encouraged me to ask Mr. Wallace what he thought the accurate colors would be. Art was more than helpful, and based on his exhausting research of the available Mason records at that time, he provided me with a wealth of information. From his research, he indicated that Mason pretty much had a standard paint scheme that was used on all the locomotives, unless otherwise directed by the purchasing railroad. From what he could tell, the DSP&P didn't request anything special when ordering their locomotives.

Art had a colorized photo of the Mason Centennial Locomotive that was displayed at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876. Not sure where he obtained the original colorized image, but he explained, based on his research, that this would have been the standard factory paint at that time.


With Art's help, I created a drawing of a Mason and he helped with what the color, color location and what would have been a high gloss and what would have been a flat finish. The primary color was a deep Navy Blue with a Steel or "Russian Iron" jacket. Gold and White trim brought out the details.


The final product:


Keep in mind, this was based on his research at that time. Further information may have become available since this time regarding paint specific to DSP&P Mason Locomotives. In any case, I always kind of liked this one.

Mike Ramsey