Would They Paint Their Express Trains in the 1910's?

tessseract

New member
I understand that in the era of American type 4-4-0's, they'd often paint their locomotives extravagant colours. Into the 1910's, however, would they have used a regular weathered locomotive or would they have 'beautified' the locomotive?
 
I understand that in the era of American type 4-4-0's, they'd often paint their locomotives extravagant colours. Into the 1910's, however, would they have used a regular weathered locomotive or would they have 'beautified' the locomotive?
From what I've read, they kept the engine weathered. I'm no expert in train history but I've seen pictures and read stories about engines from the early EARLY 1900's. I assume some railways kept their engines that carried expensive passengers would have cleaned their engines and made them look excellent.

Edit: in your title, you said trains, so do you mean the coaches themselves, the locomotive, or the train as a whole??
 
The problem here is that there are no colour photographs from that era - we would only have colour paintings, which would have a certain amount of "artistic interpretation" by the artists, and written descriptions, which would have the inexactness of the English language. Possibly the best source of information could be technical information from the railroad depots and in particular their paint shops. Finding that may be another matter.
 
Yes they did paint their express varnish, or at least some railroads did. The New York and New England, one of the many future components of the New York New Haven and Hartford, (New Haven), ran an all white luxury express from their waterfront terminal in Boston to Grand Central terminal in the 1890's. This all white train was called the "Ghost Train" due to to how it glowed brightly in the sunlight. The all white paint, however, didn't last long due to the high maintenance and soon after the train was painted in normal train colors.

Most of the NY&NE is gone today, having become a victim of the Penn Central, Conrail, and stupidity.
 
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