I built the Bar Mills baggage carts last night but I need to know what colors the Frisco painted them. Thanks in advance.
I think Jan Jester painted some in the Newburg depot. If I could only find that thread with the photos . . . .
Can't get the photos here real quick but I thought the carts were green and the wheels were red. The green was similar to the REA light green if I remember right. Still looking.
Thank you kind sir. I do strive for accuracy but I'm no rivet counter. Most carts I've seen are green and red but I thought I would double check with you fine folks.
Rick appears to be spot - on; REA green on body of cart, red on wheels: http://photos.greatrails.net/search...PLE&PAGE=1&SEARCHSTRING=baggage+cart&BOOL=ALL
Jim, after looking at a few of the photo's in Keith's post, I'd like to give you the LARGE round-top trunk for your cart that is at the foot of our bed that I keep stubbing my toe on in the middle of the night; however, I think that she would part with me before the trunk as it belonged to her great-grand parents who came from Northern Italy in the 1800's. LOL
Gee, thanks. That does give me the idea of scratchbuilding some unique luggage and trunks for the depot.
At the Springfield depot, there were two sets of baggage carts and colors--Railway Express wagons were green with red wheels likewise their tractors. Some of the REA wagons had rubber tires, other had spoked iron (Or steel) wheels. The "Frisco" wagons were yellow with black letters as Karl posted. I believe all the Frisco carts had spoked wheels. I don't remember what color the Frisco tractors were?? There were two separate groups of equipment--The Railway Express crew used their own equipment to load express only and a Frisco crew (Using their own equipment) loaded mail and passenger baggage. As I understand it, all these employees were in the "Brotherhood of Railway Clerks" union but each company hired separately. At smaller depots, the station agent loaded all express, mail, baggage and "freight." Tom
Ollie's Restaurant has a Frisco baggage cart at their front door, and it is painted yellow. Is it possible they were originally green and then painted yellow at a later date, and, if so, when? Thanks, Terry
Sounds like they have a Frisco "company" cart and not one that belonged to the REA. The two different color carts were identical, likely made by the same company. Only the paint schemes were different. Tom
I wonder if a dead end backwoods station like Zalma would have REA stuff or just Frisco stuff. I have two carts so I could paint one in each color but I wonder about what year they would have been painted yellow and black? Maybe I'm worrying too much about it but I don't want to paint one yellow if that color wasn't used during my selected era which is about 1917-1925 or thereabouts. I know, I'm a glutton for punishment.
I would imagine that the Railway Express Agency with their own crews and equipment would only have been at larger offices. Tom
I'd look for photos of some Frisco passenger station platforms of your selected era. They wouldn't have to be the exact towns you model. Maybe you can discern a color (From the b/w photos)?? As I remember, all those carts were out in the weather the year around, maybe you could just have your carts heavily weathered. Tom
I think you're right,Tom. Maybe I should leave them grey and worn looking. I'll leave them that way until I learn something more solid. Yellow and black would look good though. I have seen b&w shots but the colors escape me.
This is from memory, but all the carts at the Springfield depot had well worn looks. The paint was worn on the wooden parts and chipped on the metal parts. The spoked wheel treads were either never painted or the paint (Naturally) had worn off. Tom
Here's a photo of a RE baggage cart from the internet. The wheels on this one appear to be wooden. The wheels on the carts at the Springfield depot were thinner metal ones or solid wheels with rubber tires. The RE herald was all red and smaller. Tom PS: For a whole lot more baggage car photos, type "railway express baggage cart" in Google Images.
