Large Scale Central

Jackson sharp cars consist

I was wondering if anyone knows if the D&RGW or other railroads ran different colored cars together? I found a photo showing two cars in different colors. Is it prototipical to mix different painted cars in same consist. If you have any photos I would love to see them or hear about this?

I think RR’s run what they have.

I have seen photos of different coloured cars mixed in to passenger trains so I have taken to doing it myself. I have custom painted green cars and rio grande red that I mix up. I think it adds interests to the train but of course there is nothing like seeing a long string of identical cars snaking their way through the country side.

The T service in Mass. runs a mix of cars in the same train, some are bi levels and others regular. They use what they have when they need it.

If you really want to see pictures of different passenger cars run together, look for pictures of Amtrak during their “rainbow” era. They mixed and matched what they had to make up trains, and what they had were passenger cars from many different railroads that had not been repainted yet.

As for other railroads. I have seen old black and whites of heavyweights and streamlines mixed together, so why not cars of different colours.

todd whittier said:
or other railroads ran different colored cars together?

Taking “or other railroads” at its most global meaning, absolutely.
In US, in particular in the east and midwest, there were a number of run-through connections back in the day, where entire trains would end up on someone else’s line; and, connecting coaches and Pullmans which would be cut in to trains of other companies, especially in the runs to Florida.
In a number of countries around Earth, it was, and is, customary to paint cars of different accommodation class levels in different liveries. Sometimes diner, cafe, bar, and lounge cars, will be in yet different liveries.
I don’t know the situation, but here’s a 2011 Czech train with carriages in 2 liveries. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=373447
Coming back to the old west in US, Virginia & Truckee went through several passenger car liveries, beige, light green, several hues of reds, yellow with 2 different trim colors; and, I doubt the transitions were made overnight on all cars at once.
A mix of C&EI and L&N colors, http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=487114

SAL and L&N, oh, by the way, that SAL E isn’t white, it was a light mint green, which film, unintentionally, didn’t register, much like the green screens intentionally don’t register, in special effects work. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=243998

With respect to the Jackson & Sharp cars (US narrow gauge), the answer would depend largely on the railroad being modeled. Some lines stuck with a single paint scheme for all of their years in operation, others did not. As pointed out above, if a railroad were changing paint schemes, they’d do that over a period of months as the cars were shopped and painted. You’d definitely see mixed-color consists during those periods. Also, if railroads had business cars, they’d sometimes be painted differently than the other coaches because the railroads wanted them to stand out.

For example, the East Broad Top started out with a maroon/gold scheme, then transitioned to a dark green/gold scheme. Somewhere along the way, the lettering changed on some cars to orange, and there was also a brief flirtation with a cream/maroon paint scheme. Add to that one combine which was painted with a really bad batch of dark green paint which faded to a light blue.

Bottom line, there’s ample prototype examples for narrow gauge passenger car schemes being mixed and matched, even without narrow gauge railroads interchanging cars. And don’t forget the old standby - “it’s your railroad!”

Later,

K

Kevin Strong said:

Bottom line, there’s ample prototype examples for narrow gauge passenger car schemes being mixed and matched, even without narrow gauge railroads interchanging cars. And don’t forget the old standby - “it’s your railroad!”

The more DVD’s I bought of Colorado NG, both from old footage and culled from the present day preserved lines, the more I realised just about anything can and does go. Just keep it in your head that you model a preserved line like the Cumbres or Silverton. As a result my anxiety levels have dropped regarding the need for “prototypical” consists. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)Max.

Max Winter said:

Just keep it in your head that you model a preserved line like the Cumbres or Silverton. As a result my anxiety levels have dropped regarding the need for “prototypical” consists. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)Max.

That’s been my theme all along. The CVSRy is an operating railroad museum. Most often the railroad runs narrow gauge and mostly steam, but does have a collection of vintage standard gauge diesel equipment as well that occasionally gets out on the line. At these times the track magically changes from 3 foot to 4’ 8.5" (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

Max and John, That is how I explain a lot of stuff that happens here. Its a museum railroad, so mix and match is the rule on the museum days. Then there are days when standard gauge freights are what is running the line. Some days, its back to the original theme, and the P&CS trains get a chance to own the line. Then again, some days its the logging engines in 1:20.3 that are prowling the line. Its nice to be able to play whatever I want on a particular day.

todd whittier said:
I was wondering if anyone knows if the D&RGW ran different colored cars together?

Absolutely 100% yes.

The D&RGW often ran Pullman green cars with yellow (Silverton) cars when they were both around (early 1950s). I know of lots of photos in numerous Rio Grande narrow gauge themed books.

The most often you would see this on was the Silverton train. There were only a few yellow painted cars in the early 50s and the railroad typically added surplus San Juan green coaches for long Silverton trains. Interestingly though the yellow cars would tend to be together (usually up front) and then the green cars would be on the rear of the train. So not a true “rainbow” mix of colors anywhere in the consist. By the mid 1950s the green was gone.

You would also see a mix of colors on special club/charter trains. And usually the Silver Vista would be on these special trains as well.

Some great photos of mixed green and yellow consists can be found here:

https://eriksenphoto.smugmug.com/Trains/DRGW/1950s-original-35mm-slides