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The interior treatment of Pullman
sleepers in the standard steel and lightweight eras were simple and plain
compared with the elaborate wood carvings of the Victorian era cars. The first
steel cars used solid colors for the interior, but people thought them to
plain. There was also an initial hesitation in the acceptance of steel
cars. Hand painting the steel to look like wood made
the cars familiar looking again, but it was a time consuming process. A method
was created to mechanically paint the panels and still give pleasing
results. During the depression, the simulated
woodgraining gave way to simple utilitarian colors of tan and
green. The streamline era of the mid 1930's brought
with it an explosion of color and design in interiors as railroads fought new
competition from the airlines and the automobile.
After WWII the railroads placed huge orders for new
cars with he car builders. Color and design were an intregal part of the
marketing strategy to fight the growing
competition. Below are Color Drifts from the
Southern Pacific post - war car interiors. Southern Pacific Color Drift Control
panels set the standards that Pullman followed when repainting SP equipment.
The SP cards are 4" x 6" and are stored in black envelopes with instructions
"Color Panel should be kept in envelope when not being used for comparison." SP
Panels ran from #1 to #235 and included freight and M of W colors. The numbers
referred to the book of Intermix Color Formulas. The
drifts were scanned and attempts were made to keep the colors as true as
possible. Your monitor may also affect the colors you see.
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This card is for
the Tan Scheme issued September, 1950 and used on Pullman-Standard built post
war sleepers SP 9030 - 9056 incl., SP 9118 - 9120, SP 9400 - 9403 and NP
364,365 (Northern Pacific sleepers in the Oakland - Seattle Cascade
pool). The color panels are full size on the card. They have been reduced here
for quicker page loading. |
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Beige Scheme
issued September, 1950 and used on Pullman-Standard built post war sleepers SP
9030 - 9052 incl. and NP 364,365 (Northern Pacific sleepers in the Oakland -
Seattle Cascade pool). |
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Gray Scheme
issued September, 1950 and used on Pullman-Standard built post war sleepers SP
9030 - 9032 incl., SP 9037 -9045 incl., and SP 9300 - 9306 incl. |
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Beige Scheme
issued April, 1950 and used on Budd built post war sleepers SP 9000 - 9004 and
SP 9025 - 9029. |
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Blue Scheme
issued April, 1950 and used on Budd built post war sleepers SP 9005 -
9014. |
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Green - White
Scheme issued April, 1950 and used on Budd built post war sleepers SP 9015 -
9024. |
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In August of
1958 a new Drift Control was issued for the Standard Exterior Color Scheme for
Southern Pacific Passenger Cars. At the time SP had four passenger paint
schemes; Two tone gray for the Lark, Cascade and older standard
Pullmans; Silver and red for the Sunset Limited and Golden State
(The Golden State had lost its' unique red/silver scheme in 1953; Orange
and red for the Daylight's; and a large amount of cars still in SP Dark
Olive. Cars in the City of San Francisco pool continued to be painted UP
Armour yellow and Harbormist Gray. The new SP standard scheme was based on a
simplified version of the Sunset Limited scheme. The body was painted
Stainless steel with a scarlet stripe through the letterboard on which was
painted "Southern Pacific" in lettering gray. The trucks and underframe were
dark gray. Richmond shops would not paint many of
the cars before closing in December, 1959. The SP would look for more economy
in their passenger service before giving way to Amtrak in 1971. |
If you have any
information or pictures to add, send them to:
info@pullmanshops.com
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