Ah, but was it Safety Orange? That description makes it sound as tastefully plush and self-indulgent as other Victorian livery and decor (don't get me wrong; I love it!).
I rather doubt any paint of the Victorian Age would have been called "Safety" anything. But I could be quite wrong about that. Once, back when I was a teenager, I naively asked an executive of the Yellow Cab Co. in Chicago why they painted their taxis yellow? He said it was because cab companies long ago determined that (in an era before phosphorescent paints) yellow was the color most easily seen and picked out at a distance, and that in fact they used a paint color specifically called "High-Visibility Yellow" (of course that degree of visibility assumes a fairly dark urban background of streets and buildings; a yellow cab in a cornfield might not fare so well - but then it probably wouldn't do too very well there for other reasons....).
jonathan
--- In
CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Rupert & Maureen" <gamlenz@...> wrote:
>
> Gerald
>
>
>
> This wasn't the first use of "safety orange". In a report on the Aurora Shops from 1881 -
>
>
>
> "The new work is ... 10 way cars of a lot of 40 to be built. They are 28 ft. long over sills, and 9 ft. 1½ in. wide. The outside
> painting is - bodies, orange; clear story, English vermillion; ladders and door steps, Tuscan red; and the hand railings and other
> ironwork, gloss black: inside, the ceiling is pea-green and the sides straw color."
>
>
>
> Rupert Gamlen
>
> Auckland NZ
>
>
>
> ---- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Gerald Edgar" <vje68@...>
> To: <
CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 9:28 AM
> Subject: [CBQ] Re: Lines West wrecker colors - CB&Q calendar
>
>
> > yes & no. Years back both ends of the system used mineral red for MoW colors but Lines East converted to the familiar 'safety
> > orange' several years before Lines West did & allegedly some MoW equipment on Lines West, especially in remote areas, remained in
> > the original color well into the 50's. I do not know though if they also used the dark green for derricks aka wreckers rather
> > than the common black.
> >
> > Bernie Corbin's home layout had Q MoW equipment with most in orange but some in the red; he was my first source of info on that
> > color change.
> >
>