Rupert, my mistake, that should have been "Dark Grey". Having been
washed in "Brunswick Green", when I think "dark" I think...well.
DAAARKKKKK. That's my excuse and I'm sticking by it.
Why Pullman painted a bunch of their rebuilds in a solid dark grey
scheme is an unknown (as far as I know). It may have been an economy
measure, as the timing was such that you could argue it was at the
end of the Depression, the beginning of the War or they simply needed
to get the rebuilds out on the road.
The painting specifications for a HW Steel Pullman could require up
to 18 days (if all conditions were perfect) - for wood even
more. So, it might have been an attempt to streamline the process.
Someone mentioned that the painting might depend on the time the
photo was taken as relative to the time the car was painted. Pullman
painted and/or refinished a car far more often than the railroads
did. They had major facilities in 5 strategic areas (Chicago,
Atlanta, Richmond CA, Buffalo & Wilmington) and maintenance
facilities in other areas such as St. Louis, Sunnyside, Oakland, LA,
etc. Remember this was pre-Green time and cars were painted outside
(if conditions permitted. The cars that were shadowlined with a
ragged appearance were railroad company owned. This is generally
pre-divestiture. Post-divestiture, some of this still held, but not
to the same degree. One obvious case is the D&RGW speciial scheme 2
(the 4 stripe scheme) - if you looked at the Pullman owned cars (all
such heavyweight sleepers were Pullman owned) in the late 50's they
became rather ragged - but they were stored by that time.
Pullman painted the cars that had been modified with skirting, sealed
windows, sheathed roofs (or fully ducted, the treatment varied - the
CB&Q modernized coaches were sheathed), tight lock couplers, etc. -
in the assigned roads preferred paint - but not necessarily right
away. It depended on service, assignment, the war board, and other
circumstances. The period between 1949 and 1954 is when you see a
lot of betterment, modernized and standard heavyweights painted for
their owning roads (post divestiture) or assigned roads (post
divestiture leased) paint schemes. Among those are the Burlington
aluminum and the Rock Island aluminum grey. And shadow lined.
As for grey and gray - both are right. I think one or the other is
more righter (sic). Likely the one I don't use. But then sometimes
I end up using colour too. It comes from reading far too many
English books by English writers...
At 02:27 AM 3/6/2008, you wrote:
>My thanks for all the responses to my query about grey "Pullmans". I was
>aware that there was a variety of situations post-divestiture but didn't
>realise that I had asked a question about such a complex subject!
>
>There was mention that "Zephyr Tower showed up on the Exhibition Flyer in
>the Pullman light grey scheme". Did Pullman have this scheme to match
>railroads' stainless steel coaches or was there another reason not to use
>Pullman green?
>
>
>(Should "grey" be "grey" or "gray"?)
Bob Webber
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