On Fri, 1 Aug 2003 23:41:15 -0500, William Barber wrote
> Marshall,
>
> I think this has been discussed before on the list, but how have
> your determined that the Q started painting cab roofs red in 1947?
> My impression was that it started earlier, possibly with the
> painting of S-4 #3000 for display at the Century of Progress in
> Chicago. Application of the large herald on the tender started just
> before that time. What might have possessed the RR to change the
> cab roof color as the end of steam operation was approaching?
> (Somewhere, I recall seeing a colorized version of locomotive and
> train at the Century of Progress that included a red cab roof.
> Unfortunately, I can't locate it.)
>
> Bill Barber
>
That's a tough one, Bill . . .
I know I had a printed source at the time I put that date in the Microscale
decal instruction, but I no longer have my reference library. It runs in my
mind it was from a Q&A discussion in the Zephyr - but I had heard it
discussed verbally, many years earlier. That doesn't mean that your
recollection regarding the S-4 at the 1933 worlds fair is wrong . . . that
would not be the only time a loco was "dolled up" for a special event -
As for why such a change would have been made when the end-of-steam was in
sight, I can speculate, and some of what I said later in my response to Tom
figures into it. Many years ago, I read in one of the magazines that the red
used for certain other roads' cab roofs or tender decks was not actually
paint, but was red lead - as a protection against the corrosive effect of
cinders lying on a flat surface. While I cited the Q's belief that
cleanliness was a form of maintenance when cautioning Tom not to weather
his '30s loco too heavily, that changed with the coming of WW II. The
manpower shortage required some "routine" activities (including engine
wiping, to be curtailed. Rising wages in the post-war period probably
discouraged its resumption. The use of red lead to protect against cinder
corrosion could have been a practical response.
I agree that a late-date change purely for cosmetic reasons seems
unlikely . . .
Marshall Thayer
Mt. Pleasant, IA
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Free shipping on all inkjet cartridge & refill kit orders to US & Canada. Low
prices up to 80% off. We have your brand: HP, Epson, Lexmark & more.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5510
http://us.click.yahoo.com/GHXcIA/n.WGAA/ySSFAA/8ZCslB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|