Model Railroading > Brick red steam loco cab roof paint?

If memory serves correct, the reddish "paint" that you see on many old steam loco cab roofs was actually a waterproof coating sold by an unknown-to-me manufacturer. The coating was available in black or in a red that Wabash called "brick", I think, a sort of a washed-out red.

Do any model paint manufacturers offer this color? The motive power department of the Midland Continental RR wants to spiff-up its passenger locos a bit, but standard caboose red is too garish to meet its conservative tastes.

EO

The red on the MILW electrics was bright as caboose red when applied. It did not take long for it to get dirty and weather to look like a boxcar red, brownish color and that was without steam engine exhaust blowing back over it.

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I thought "Roof Brown' was supposed to simulate this color.  Scalecoat's was a bit redder than Floquil's.

- Norm

The photos that I have seen of this color on newly painted on cab roofs of several railroads show a slightly washed-out red with an almost orange tint. As I said, Wabash called this color "brick" in the late 1940's. Pennsy also applied this color to their cab roofs and tender decks, although I haven't seen it replicated with great accuracy on many manufactured models, at least in my eye.

EO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 09:52 by hogheaded.

Check Tamiya TS-33, Dull Red, 

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Send me a  private email and I'll put you in contact with a friend who has researched Wabash paints and probably has a match for it.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 11:08 by wabash2800.

Oxide red was a very common color applied to cab roofs.  Burlington however, used a bright red.

Get a few reds and browns in the paint brand of your liking and mix up somthing that looks good to your eye, thats what I do...........

ESPEE5318 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Get a few reds and browns in the paint brand of
> your liking and mix up somthing that looks good to
> your eye, thats what I do...........

Yeah, that's the last resort.

EO

I received some correspondence from my friend who has been sampling paints, researching and studying Wabash paint documents for a few years now and he is emphatic that the Wabash never painted its steam locos roofs with red paint. But I could swear that I saw a color image of at least one loco stored at Decatur, Illinois with a red roof. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks with me or they painted on the primer but never got a chance to finish the paint job. And all the other color images I have seen of Wabash steam locos, the color is the same black as the rest of the locomotive.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I received some correspondence from my friend who
> has been sampling paints, researching and studying
> Wabash paint documents for a few years now and he
> is emphatic that the Wabash never painted its
> steam locos roofs with red paint. But I could
> swear that I saw a color image of at least one
> loco stored at Decatur, Illinois with a red roof.
> Perhaps my mind is playing tricks with me or they
> painted on the primer but never got a chance to
> finish the paint job. And all the other color
> images I have seen of Wabash steam locos, the
> color is the same black as the rest of the
> locomotive.

I hesitate to even mention the following, because it comes from deep memory. I thought that I had saved this info as a computer file a decade or so ago, but it's not there anymore, and given the quirks of human memory, well...

What I recall is some Wabash fan having researched the issue, and claimed that a Post War paint Wabash paint chart called for "brick" or standard black as a cab roof color for black passenger locos only. I think that he said that, by his own research, the application of this was spotty. I've noted photos (with decent color rendition) of other railroads using this color, but I don't have an example for posting here. I'm unsure at this point whether the coating was also offered in black, or if some railroads simply painted over the "brick".  He noted that it was a standard color offered by an industrial coating manufacturer to seal roofs and the more that I think about it, I judge the color to be almost identical to the red color of air / water hoses that you find at gas stations, for example. This suggests that it was a rubberized coating.

Anyway, this is what I *seem* to remember, and it should be taken with a grain of salt. When I return to the Midland Continental Company shops in a couple of weeks, I guess that I'll have to grab a length of air hose, and see if I can replicate its color. An old paint guy told me once that reds are particularly hard to color match. MCC's going to use the color, regardless.

Thanks, Victor!

EO

 

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