We are looking to paint our steam locomotive and I've been toying with brushing on black Imron. They sell a special additive for brushing and rolling. Has anybody used any other paints that hold up like Imron does to UV exposure? This locomotive is stored outside and I want to put a paint on it that will last up to the sun and elements for a long long time. Any suggestions?

Never Painted a Steam Engine but if its metal and sitting outside, all i paint with is Rust-oleum Oil Based Paint

Cold, Cool, Warm or Hot, the Paint will harden up. If you want a Baked On Finish, get the surface to the Too Hot to touch point. It will Smoke, but its like a baked on Finish

My 'life altering moment' was when I inspected the ATSF Northern 2913 out at Fort Madison, IA. Beside the BNSF main in the city park.
By coincidence, that's where DuPont had a plant, and did the locomotive painting as a demonstration project, and put a bronze plaque on it also identifying it as Imron.

Holy smoke, the way that has held up. Made a believer out of me. And like most paint jobs, the paint is the 25%, it's surface prep, right primer, and then - some kind of UV clearcoat, even on black. Four steps that depend on each other. And that locomotive sits outside and has had it's feet wet in the Mississippi.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/ ... 10,4080852

Ah, here's what I was looking for:
https://i0.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.c ... 00x533.jpg


There's a lot of good paint tech here, but just 'brushing on anything' no matter how good it is, may not hold up any better than anything else.

NASA did some exhaustive exposure studies on paint, including Imron, to determine paint specifications and that's been my spec standard ever since.

We did a lot of equipment back in 2007-8 down in Texas with TCI coatings that matched Imron spec pretty well, limited color choices, but a good product if it was properly applied and UV clearcoated.

I believe the big guys use Axalta (was duPont) Imron Industrial 3.5 HG or the PPG equivalent that I can't recall off the top of my head with the appropriate primer and clear coat. That's probably what was used in Randy's example above and is one heck of a long lasting finish. These are solvent based, really nasty and require full coverage, fresh air PPE. Don't get it on or in you.

I don't know much about the water-born versions but they're supposedly environmentally friendly. At any rate, always read and follow the safety data sheets.

If you're looking to paint something and have it really last, those polyurethanes are the way to go. As with any coating, surface prep is by far the most important step.

There really have been some epic paint disasters out there, but I think the one that's a life lesson is the BNSF "peaches" units that rapidly faded. I pretty much have the whole story, but although Imron was spec'd, different paint was applied, and before it was over, the contract painter was closed and bankrupt. And you can see the results on any railfan photo site.

We also have some wonderful examples at one of my clients of a 'UV clearcoat' vs. no 'UV clearcoat' on the same paint, applied a year apart, 17 years later, and the no clearcoat is turning a nice dirty pink on what was a darker red. UV ones are dirty, but clean the dirt off, and it's surprisingly good under there.

I'm also convinced (but can't prove it) that the Cleburne-painted CF7's were an epic case of three out of four fails; poor surface prep, maybe poor primer, normal Imron, and no clearcoat, and by the time they hit the secondhand market, yeesh. The four I had to deal with were in terrible paint condition and turning into rustbuckets. Any survivors have had a full proper repaint or already gone to remelt.

I've been trying to deduce the locomotive in question based on the OP's handle, I know Durango Railroad Historical Society-owned NG D&RG #315/ Florence and Cripple Creek #3 is coming back to Durango after a lease to C&TS, but it has been operational recently and is planned to undergo a 1472. There are several on static display in the area, including #278 on the trestle in Cimarron in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on the abandoned Marshall Pass line.

The red and silver "Super Fleet" units did not fare any better, although it seemed that the factory-EMDs (not the Santa Fe-painted FP45s) lasted longer than the GEs before fading to pink.

It was long ago in a galaxy far, far away, but C&NW's Safety/Zito Yellow anabasis produced some pretty spectacular examples of paint going to hell in a hurry.

It all depends on how much money and effort you want to invest. If you are going to power wash and slap color on, then Rustoleum is probably your best bet. This, knowing full well that you will probably touch up or repaint every few years. If you are going to wash, blast, prime and paint, then something like Imron would be good. And you probably won't have to touch it again for at least a decade. Longer if it's under a cover.

Imron is wicked stuff. I used it several years ago and it ate my hands. It took weeks to heal.
Last time I painted a railcar I used PPG Delfleet Evolution. It covered well, went on smooth, less toxic than Imron and cheaper. I'd use it again in a second.

When 1522 was restored, a US Paint two part paint was used over their primer. It worked very well, but was unfortunately clear coated which caused problems because it didn't stand up to the heat as well as the base coat developed eczema.
Next time around, we had a great guy and sons who professionally repainted the engine and it turned out beautifully. Tender was never repainted and still has its 1987-88 two part paint and is under cover and still looks great.
When I lettered the engine and tender I used a mixture of the two part clear and mixed bronze gold powder with it. The lettering still looks great.
In 1990 the NRHS National Convention was held in St. Louis and some of the engines at Museum of Transportation were given a quickie black enamel/brush/roller job. After a year, it had gone flat and was oxidizing.
Moral of the story is if you can afford it and do it safely and properly the good two part paint will save you from having to recoat every very few years.

We have 2 locomotives that have Imron on them and they have held up really well. One is yellow and was painted around 1990. The yellow still looks good but the roof is failing. The steam locomotive was painted around that time and the black is only now starting to get that rainbow sheen to it.

How long ago did you paint that railcar and have you seen it recently?

How much do you want / have to spend ?

One other supporting vote for Imron, indirectly:

One associate of mine brokered for a Western-railroad caboose recently that was being "forced out" of its old location, a century-old steel caboose with an amazingly unmodified interior. The car had been given a professional-grade Imron paint job (not sure if in a paint booth or with rollers) a couple years before, and arrived looking as if it had just been painted the previous day.

As for what my associate paid, he was coy about exact figures, but he said, "I paid for the paint job and got the caboose for free!" The implication was that he paid around $10-12,000 for a "time capsule" with a good professional paint job, plus shipping. (Despite the "eviction," it took over a year to get the car to a place where it could be picked up!)