John and Marshall,
Thanks for your responses. I knew this topic had been discussed before.
John's response fits in with what I recall my dad talking about years
ago (He was a Q fan and RR enthusiast from about age 5 in 1917 on). He
indicated that the red cab roofs dated back many years, long before
WWII. "Red cab roofs in the 20's probably makes sense since the first
steel cab roofs on the Q most likely date to the "teens"(O-1's or S-1's
maybe?). It would take some time for corrosion to occur and by the
'20's, it was probably observed. Red lead paint was the answer. Pennsy
painted the tank tops of their tenders with red lead paint for the same
reason. As you noted, John, the color is difficult to discern in old
photos and B&W is all but impossible. Dad took a few color steam photos
before the war. I need to go through them. He did have a shot of #5626
at DG in 1940 when it was brand new. I am not sure that the angle is
good enough to see the roof. I need to find for that one.
Bill Barber
On Sunday, August 3, 2003, at 12:10 AM, BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2003 11:43:10 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Digest Number 1764
>
> We have been all through this before. The red roofs
> were not a "paint scheme". They were "red leaded" to
> prevent and arrest corrosion as needed. The practice
> began circa 1920(on steel cabs) and remember before
> that time many cabs had wooden roofs covered with
> canvas. After that time, many engines had red lead on
> the roofs and many did not and the coal smoke stains
> made it hard to tell.
> John
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