Question: MTH 2016 Vol. 2 catalogue shows bright red IRT Lo-V subway cars. Does anybody know the history of these? Is the color accurate? If so, when did it run?
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In addition to the red cars, the are MTH LoV cars in dark green and black roofs, and dark green with silver roofs. I have no clue as to what colors are correct.
The LO-V's were delivered in the Pullman Green color. The entire body, roof,sides and ends.
The last series of cars were painted in a dark gray to match the steel dust coating they received running in the subway. That is basically how all subway cars looked most of the time.
During the 75th anniversary 5 cars were painted In the maroon colored bodies with the Orange Windows. This was done to replicate the original subway Composite (wooden) cars and the original (steel) Gibbs cars. The cars were then painted Gray with Mint Green roofs. The mint Green was wrong as the IRT never used that color especially on a roof that would turn to dirt quickly. The cars were then repainted Pullman Green with Black roofs, anti climbers, grab irons etc.
They were never bright Red except a few in work service in the 70's.
hope this helps you.
Nate
Thanks Nate, that solves the mystery.
I'm curious about the maroon on the Composites and the Gibbs, if you happen to know: did they look like that from the start? Briefly? Have you ever seen surviving pictures of them in maroon? (I've seen black and white photographs of the Composites and Gibbs but nothing in color and no mention of what their real color was, until now.)
Thanks again,
Brendan
The LO-V's were delivered in the Pullman Green color. The entire body, roof,sides and ends.
The last series of cars were painted in a dark gray to match the steel dust coating they received running in the subway. That is basically how all subway cars looked most of the time.
During the 75th anniversary 5 cars were painted In the maroon colored bodies with the Orange Windows. This was done to replicate the original subway Composite (wooden) cars and the original (steel) Gibbs cars. The cars were then painted Gray with Mint Green roofs. The mint Green was wrong as the IRT never used that color especially on a roof that would turn to dirt quickly. The cars were then repainted Pullman Green with Black roofs, anti climbers, grab irons etc.
They were never bright Red except a few in work service in the 70's.
hope this helps you.
Nate
Brendan,
pas far as I know there are no serviving color photos of the cars. The Maroon and Orange colors were the typical Manhattan Elevated and Interborough scheme. The canvas roofs were Tan in color. The Composites were delivered with Copper sides covering the wooden wooden slats. This was touted as part of the fireproofing feature along with Asbestos under the floor. The copper was stripped and used for the WW1 war effort on many of the cars. The steel Gibbs cars had wooden roofs covered with canvas as well. The colors soon dissapeared and covered with steel dust in the subway. The Composites were transferred to the East side Manhattan els and painted Green to get wooden cars out of the subway. Around the WW1 time period. In the 1920's. Some of them were painted Orange with Black roofs and letter boards. This was part of the Open Air Line promotion to get people to ride the els.
