Does anyone know if the D&RGW used any particular color scheme for their buildings (depots, freight houses and other lineside structures) on the narrow gauge lines in the 20's and 30's? We have found several pics that show a combination of tan and brown (or light and dark in the b/w photos), is this correct?

Thanks,
Svein and Vigdis

That seems to have been the standard.

The most common scheme was tan and brown with red roof. The match for tan given in a number of kits is Floquil Mud. The match for brown is Roof Brown with a little Rail Brown added. A fresh roof is Caboose Red.

There were variations, because the buildings weren't all repainted at once. From the 19th century, buildings were all brown with green windows and trim. For a period in the 1940s and 50s, buildings were white with green trim. Some smaller buildings were all tan or all brown. Fo intance, you could get away with painting the coal sheds Vigdis built the other day all tan. Here are a handcar shed and water tank on my layout painted plain tan using Floquil Mud:[attachment=12241]

Thanks guys!

JWB; That's a great pic, thanks for posting it. I notice the shed seems to have a little more green into it than the water tank, but that's probably caused by the lighting conditions when the pic was taken. Also, I know that changing the color temperature will alter the impression, and printed photos are never an exact match of the real object, but when I printed your pic and compared it to the colors we have available, parts of the water tank were almost identical to the Sand Yellow from Valleho.

Our LHS doesn't have Floquil paint, only Valleho, so I'm wondering if there's a comparison chart available on the net?

The color pics of the prototype are a little more creme and a little less yellow, but as I mentioned above, one can never be sure until one places the two colors next to each other and makes a direct comparison. Anyway, I guess close-enough will do.

Svein

I wouldn't worry too much about an exact match, since the buildings weren't repainted all that often, and weathering -- especially UV at high altitudes -- would affect the shade. You're mainly talking about a very, very common buff pignment.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. Just have to make sure the colors aren't too bright, I think they will work out just fine.

Thanks again

Svein

OK, the roof section is finished and weathered. I know, it's difficult to accurately reproduce the correct colors in a picture, but how does this look?





FYI, the walls will have the light creme color just barely visible on the underside of the roof, while trim and other details will have the brown one shown on the gables.

Svein

Looks right -- the only change is that the chimney was typically painted the same light buff as the main building sides.

Really? Did they actually paint the bricks, or did they just use lighter colored ones?

They painted them.

OK, thanks. Vigdis is a bit sceptical, but will have a go at it. Did they also paint the chimney top, or should that remain black?

You can find an example at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/47418/rec/11">http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/si ... 418/rec/11</a><!-- m --> It looks like they deliberately painted brown trim on the chimneys, too.

Wow, look at that! It's really true what they say, that one picture is worth a thousand words, I would never have guessed it. Thanks for the link!

Svein