@prrjim posted:PRR NEVER painted freight equipment of any kind "tuscan red". Also they never painted tender decks or cab roofs Tuscan red. Only Lionel and MTH and some others have done that.
PRR had a designated freight car color. It was basically a boxcar red but redder than the brown some roads used. The other point is that the paint became darker through the years, mostly I was told as better artificial pigments came available. So early in the 20 century, freight car color was light and more orangish. Then as you get into the late 40s and 50s it becomes darker and more brown, but not tuscan which a maroon color. I don't have the documentation or article on this at hand. Now as to the Lionel Orange on the recent freight cars - I hate it - but I can't say it is wrong. One of my buddies thinks it is not that bad for early PRR Freight car color. I think it too orange. Can anyone say for sure - looking at photos does not help - one there was not color early on, and too color photos and slide fade and older paints weathered badly.
As for loco cab roofs and decks, there is some stuff on that. They were actually painted different colors. The tender deck I think was Freight car color and the cab roof was more brown (or vice-versa). There is an article in the PRRT&HS journal describing this and all the paint details on stearmers. I will post it if I find it.
Did you ever locate the steam locomotive cab roof paint color information? Thanks!
