Alternative Examples of the Reading's Postwar Paint Colors

jayrod · **Posted:** Wed Dec 25, 2019 5:33 pm

I don’t know why this didn’t immediately pop into my head for the Bee Line scheme - NS Reading heritage unit. A lot of research went into getting the colors correct for the heritage units. Progress Rail painted the EMDs. PPG was the paint supplier. I can get the current PPG numbers from the coatings lab if you need them.

The DuPont codes will have to come from Reading records - drawings, specs, drift cards, AFEs, etc. though they’d only be good for historical interest. The drift cards can be scanned, however.

NVPete · **Posted:** Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:59 am

Confirms what I thought about that pic of #252, Phil. Thanks!!!

Regarding the AHM model, after you mentioned Mr. Hammer's proposal, I put that scheme together in MSPaint and it was like, hey, I've seen that before and, lo and behold, there it was. If I remember right, most of their Reading stuff wasn't very prototypical in either color or equipment.

Eric, I'm willing to bet NS and Progress used the DuPont 93-1317 green, a.k.a. "New Idea Green", on #1067 which seems to have become a catch-all Reading color these days. The Southern heritage unit appears to be the same color also. Not sure what they did with that yellow, though. LOL

New Idea Green is the last color shown on Page 15 of my chip book. I'll get the rest of the color pages posted up here eventually...

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/paintdetail ... nt=93-1317

At the moment, I'm leaning toward 93-6014 for the blue...

jayrod · **Posted:** Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:48 pm

So far as I know, PPG matched the colors from the EMD paint book. Out of curiosity, I’ll contact PPG to get the current codes and to see if they also have the EMD or DuPont codes in their records for historical purposes.

NVPete · **Posted:** Thu Dec 26, 2019 4:33 pm

That would be very cool, Eric. I'd definitely be interested in hearing the results.

Okay, I'm going with 93-6014 for this one. Obviously much more of a "Royal Blue" than the truck full of meat products which appears a tad bit more earthy. The Reading being the Reading, I could speculate this is the blue they used for just about everything, the Blueliners, trucks, perhaps the Crusader, and maybe even their station signs. HMMMM...

The PaintRef page for Federal Truck Blue...

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/paintdetail ... nt=93-6014

B&O SW-900 #9506 looks good sitting there behind a brand-new RDG MP-15 #2773 and the left front corner of #9111 seems to match that Eastern Airlines dark blue just about perfectly...

NVPete · **Posted:** Thu Dec 26, 2019 7:45 pm

Since I mentioned meat products and even though they don't have anything to do with Reading colors, I'll throw these two out there on the table just for the heck of it...

93-1863 red, otherwise known as Studebaker Red, Ford Vermilion Red and Chevrolet Swift Red...

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/paintdetail ... nt=93-1863

Don't suit your palette? How about a little Chevy and Diamond T Armour Yellow, 93-3421 yellow, instead?...

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/paintdetail ... nt=93-3421

Now I'm really getting hungry. I'll look for pics to post up after dinner, maybe breakfast. LOL

EDIT: Minneapolis Moline fans have absolutely no clue what their "Cherry Red" is supposed to be but I have a pretty good idea. This guy might also...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:58 am

The chip page photos from the beginning.

Page 7, from white through the creams, the three imitation gold yellows, and into the other yellows...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:01 am

Page 9 continues with the yellows, through the oranges, beginning with the reds, and finishing with Vermilion...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:03 am

On Page 11, the reds become darker into the maroons, then the lighter blues...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:05 am

Page 13, the blues...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:07 am

The remaining darkest blues and then the greens on Page 15...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:10 am

Page 17, more greens...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:14 am

Page 19 shows one dark green along with the various shades of brown and into the grays...

NVPete · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:17 am

Here are the rest of the grays on the last page, Page 21, finishing up with Aluminum...

NVPete · **Posted:** Sat Dec 28, 2019 3:14 pm

Uh oh, this is what can happen if you start thinking and driving...

NVPete · **Posted:** Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:12 pm

Since Eric alluded to how easy it is to get burned on attempting to match older paint colors, period, I figured I'd better post this low-number-coded DuPont yellow up as well. For whatever reason, it's not in my book but if it was, it would be located between 93-5248 and 93-54701 on the chip pages. It is presented in PaintRef's 1969 fleet listing, however, as well as here...

https://joebell.net/Joe-Bell-bicycle-pa ... harts.html

DuPont 93-224 Yellow...

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/paintdetail ... ont=93-224

Still sticking with 5248 for the '73 yellow, though. LOL

Besides being used by Mayfield Dairy down there in Tennessee, it is also the color of the yellow star in U.S. Steel's famous "Steel" logo...

Alternative Examples of the Reading's Postwar Paint Colors

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