Jon,
I am not sure that there was a standard mineral red. It may have varied depending on the supplier. Of course, with exposure to the elements, it also changed over time. Freshly painted, it was fairly bright. As time passed, it faded toward almost black. It was my understanding that the paint was red lead, which was used on many steel components as a protective coating, every outside the R environment. In the 1959 - 1960 time period when the Q was introducing Chinese red, they painted the cab roof of 5632 in that color. It was terrible! Some RRs, like the Pennsylvania, painted the tender decks of their locomotives with red lead, for the same protective reasons.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO
Fri Jan 29, 2016 7:45 pm (PST) . Posted by: Hi all,
I've been following this thread with much interest, the question came to mind about what color or shade is mineral red. My limited research definitely shows mineral red is as ambiguous as boxcar red or oxide red. So, here's my question. There are lots of images in Google of #4978 in Mendota, IL. The locomotive has clearly had a cosmetic restoration. Is the cab roof color an accurate representation of the Q's recipe for mineral red?
As always, thank you in advance,
Jon
__._,_.___
Posted by: William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com>
![]()
__,_._,___
|