03-16-2011, 07:48 PM
Herc Driver Wrote:The Penn Central certainly chose an interesting shade of green. And I'm not enough of a PC historian to know why the basic black on the engines and green car color. But, I bet the reason for each color choice by the railroad would make an interesting story.
If I were to hazard a guess... and I'm no PC buff so forgive me if I'm off base (I'm a PRR guy LOL) I would say that the green freight car and cabin color is a hold over from NYC, and the black locomotives from PRR. PRR painted it's locomotives a color called Dark Green Locomotive Enamel, more commonly known as Brunswick Green. The exact formula I am unaware, however the gist of it is straight black paint with copper oxide added for durability (the copper oxidized over time, hence the green tint to the color). My thought is that the copper-oxide added to the PRR locomotive enamel was probably expensive. For a struggling company that expense was probably unwanted, and eliminating the copper oxide gives you plain old black.
Just my thoughts.
Dave
-Dave