Throughout the years the New York Central flirted with experimental color schemes. The paint was hardly dry on the 1938 20th Century Limited before some of the management decided it wasn't exactly what they wanted. By 1939 the broad aluminum striping through the windows was gone along with the blue striping above and below. Still more changes were made during the next few years before the reversal of the greys and more changes to stiping and lettering in 1948. Apparently some one was not happy with the pin-stripe business suit look of their name trains. In a little-known experiment, they tried to inject more color into the fleet. In January 1940, Imperial Palace – a 4 Compartment/4 Bedroom/2 Drawing Room car built for the 20th Century Limited in 1938 – was painted two tone green. One side of the roof was painted green, the other half was painted black. The car and one side of the roof was painted medium green with a light green window band. The greens were delineated by aluminum striping with black edges. Lettering was also done in aluminum with black edging. The paint colors were Dupont Dulux enamels and specified as: Light Green 88-91901 Medium Green 88-91902 Aluminum enamel About the same time, Cascade Vale – a 10-roomette, 5-double-bedroom car – was given a two-tone grey paint scheme with gold striping and lettering. One side of the roof was black and the other grey. The car and one side of the roof was painted dark grey with a light grey window band. The greys were delineated by imitation gold striping with black edges. Lettering was also done in imitation gold with black edging. The paint colors were specified only as: Light grey enamel Dark grey enamel Imitation gold color [This paint scheme seemed to form the basis for NYC’s later two-tone grey scheme that lasted from 1948 to the end with aluminum grey substituted for the gold.] Neither paint scheme lasted long. Both cars were returned to NYC’s standard two-tone [light/dark/light] grey by the time the 1942 Descriptive List of Cars was issued. Apparently no photographs exist of these experimental paint schemes. Had the experiment found favor, we would be using TTG to mean two-tone green instead of two-tone grey. Reference: “Pullman Paint and Lettering Notebook: A Guide to the Colors Used on Pullman Cars From 1933-1969”, by Arthur D. Dubin, Kalmbach Books, pages 46-49.
This stems from my natural curiosity, my interest in the New York Central, and an interest in correct modeling of same. There are many NYC reference books and videos in my collection. I participate on several NYC groups on the Internet. Also I will probably renew my membership in the NYCS Historical Society as they finally seem to be revitalizing the organization. Every time I check a source I seem to discover things I never saw before, usually while looking for something entirely unrelated. Eventually I try to compile information from several sources and eliminate the mistakes, unsupported opinions or obviously erroneous stuff. The thread about the airplane crash came from the air racing web site provided by some pilot friends of mine. The two-tone green thread is from the Dubin book I referenced. It is the only place I have seen this subject discussed, but Dubin does quote directly from the notebook of the paint shop chief, so I believe this to be accurate. More to come.
Dubin's book is fascinating. I bought it for the information on Pullman cars used by the ATSF and SP but it has so much more information in it plus a whole section of color "chips" that are useful. The colors are reproduced as best as possible with color printing technology but still sometimes do not look exact due to all the usual arguments about scale, weathering, light environment etc. Still an excelent reference.
