I was just looking through some photos of PRR 7048 and was curious, does she retain all of her original PRR components? Or is she just a shell? Also, is she currently black or DGLE? I could not tell what color from the photos on the internet.

Is that the motor on Horseshoe Curve?

I would hope they used DGLE (Dark Green Locomotive Enamel) to be properly PRR.

Phil Mulligan

Jet black is the color.k

The engine, etc. should still all be inside; however, the loco was rebuilt somewhat in the PC/CR days, which accounts for the blanked-out dynamic brake "blister," the paper air filter housing box, etc. So it's not "PRR original" in that sense, and I can't say if the 567 engine block went through any B/BC/C conversion or whatnot.

As for the color, technically called "Dark Green Locomotive Enamel" in PRR documents, in every last photo I've seen or taken of 7048 since it was stuffed and mounted, the color can ONLY be called black, with the only "green" being either moss or reflections of green trees nearby. Mind you, virtually any PRR model or model paint is pretty much too green. The supposed formula for DGLE is one parts green to 100 or 1,000 parts black, with the joke among old PRR heads:



I believe the PRR dispensed with DGLE and went to straight cheap black in the 1960s

See attached in reference to the longevity of Brunswick Green.

EBL

Wow, Eric, that memo must have caused extreme gnashing of teeth at 466 Lexington Ave.

In reality, Brunswick Green is a family of dark green colors based on a copper pigment developed in Braunschweig, Germany (Brunswick in English) in the 18th and 19th centuries. British Racing Green auto color is also a "Braunschweigisches Grün" and British Railways used a color somewhat lighter than PRR's which they called Brunswick Green.

I can't tell if the color 4935 or 4465 is painted is green or black, but one time I was coming East on AMTK 40 and stepped off at Harrisburg for the engine change. It had snowed and was still cloudy. The motor was 4935 and in the flat light it certainly was green!

Phil Mulligan

First, 4935's current Brunswick Green livery is just that, last repainted in 1987 by the Strasburg Rail Road.

Second, the PC letter referenced by Eric Levin in this thread can be sourced in MG-286 Penn Central Railroad Collection at the PA State Archives, Harrisburg. J.H. Heron's records, who was NYC Assistant CMO, can be found as a sub-group of NYC records in this manuscript group {see #286m.441}.

K.R. Bell
Railroad Archivist
PA State Archives (PHMC)

I should also emphasize that photo film, computer monitors, the weathering of the finish, the surroundings and background, and even the light shining on the loco and its angle all make huge differences in the perceived colouration.

Since this thread has been posted, I have pulled up photos of my own, scanned, and online that show the RR Museum of Pa's 4935 and 4465, both post-restoration, appearing as everything from "black hole" "jet black" to classic British sports car "Hunter Green" (MG's, Triumphs, Jaguars, and later GM Saturns), and even one photo showing 4465 in what looks for all the world like USA Army military olive green!

Kodachrome, the long favorite for photographers who read Railfan or had bad experiences with E6-process slide films, had horrible latitude and tended to render Brunswick/DGLE as black or close to it. E6 films were better at rendering what green was there, but tended to shift in saturation or hue over time if not well-stored. Digital photography had done away with much of this problem, but we don't have a time machine to take our modern high-end digital cameras trackside in PRR territory yet.

The arguments over the proper rendering of prototype colors on models and reproductions has reached its zenith of scholarship and/or absurdity (depending on your view) with the PRR Technical & Historical Society having its own Paint Committee........