Lionel Pennsylvania Gla hopper colors

Gla's are the best modeled hoppers out there. Sure beats Weavers toy 2 bays. Mostly black n white protos for that era. I believe like the box cars, the two color versions are correct.

I can easily fix that color issue as I have done for several others. 

Without arguing color accuracy, PRR freight car colors did vary over time.

Sun does bleach out the oxide red. I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks guys, it’s definitly an interesting looking train.... add in the black berwind cars & the atlas H21a’s that are their own shade of brown and there’s a lot of color happening. I don’t think I’ll darken the oxide red cars. I’m gonna leave it like this. 

I have both also along with some H21a's and I like the variation. I prefer the lighter color Lionel ones actually but it's neat having variation too.

PRR Freight Car Color (as it was officially known)  changed over the years, roughly once  a decade from the thirties through the sixties.  It started out as an orange shade of red (like your Gla on the left), then grew  to a more browner shade of red (like the one on the right) as the color was changed over the decades.  Both cars are correct for Pennsy freight car red, but the one on the left is more appropriate for the years you are trying  to model.

Here is the definitive treatise on the subject

http://www.pennsyrr.com/index.php/general/172-paints

  But its your railroad, do what you want. And  I agree the variation looks cool

Thanks for posting...  i was wondering what to do with my GLAs.  I have the earler darker, and these newer lighter.

My newer cars are more of a Salmon color to naked eye.  They look more red under a camera...

https://youtu.be/J1OMqBd8LtM

Thanks for posting & for all the good info. John Sethian thanks for helping to clarify the time periods. The above link will let you see the train running. Enjoy

I'm no Pennsy expert so I can't vouch for the validity, but it looks good to me. Especially with your weathering skills those could really look good dirtied up. 

Will Ebbert posted:

I'm no Pennsy expert so I can't vouch for the validity, but it looks good to me. Especially with your weathering skills those could really look good dirtied up. 

Thanks! I will eventually weather & kadee all these cars & the engines.