Historic Depot Paint Colors, Paint Liveries Or Paint Schemes - Exterior And Interior - Inquiry

Most depot roofs that I have seen were green asphalt shingles.

I do not know of any that were painted green.

But I am sure there is always an exception.

 

Saw this thread has been revived.

Anyone know what colors were used when the depots were originally built during the 1880s?

Many depot pictures from that era appear to be a dark color, oxide red?

There were also some white or gray ones in the 1890s.

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Andre

 

Green is both light and heat reflecting, yet softer and easier than white to individuals.

Maintenance is also easier.

 

I have been using the pictures above as a guide and have been experimenting with Americana Acrylic Paint found in Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or on-line at various retailers and Amazon.com.

I have found so far that DA281 Slate Green is very, very close in comparison.

Edit: Oops. Got the interior and exterior threads confused. This post actually belongs in the interior thread.

 

Dang,

If that depot green is not the most difficult shade of green to match.

I will keep trying.

 

When I bought my house in 1963, there was a Frisco depot at Gravois, MO, MP 11, a short walk from my house.

I visited a few times and took some photographs, but I was very busy at the time with other things. Next thing I knew, they had torn the depot down.

I do remember that green on the interior. It probably is hard to match. I always called it "institutional green" because many local hospitals used that color.

I would say any light green would do in HO-scale.

 

I am going to use a color from Americana Acrylics, slate green, DA281.

Very light green with a hint of gray.

 

I believe the green color was sea foam green composed of green paint with a touch of black.

In segregated states such as Arkansas the black waiting room was normally adjacent to the freight room.

The black waiting room walls were made of plaster or something similar.

 

The Slate Green color from Americana is perfect for inside the depots in my eyes.

Just enough green, just enough gray to tone it, and it does not look like it is a Pistachio fest inside.

I wonder how many of us model segregation on our Turn of the Century layouts?

I know that I will be. Down here in San Antonio, TX they had "Immigrants" homes for the railroad workers. They actually had that written right across the buildings. I have pictures of it.

Dangest thing y'all ever did see.

 

This article has been in the works for quite some time.

I had hoped to uncover additional information, but the goal of my quest is elusive. The attached PDF file contains rank speculation about the early 20th Century color palette used by the Frisco. It is a wild ass[umption] guess (WAG) based on two pieces of evidence. One document is very specific, while the other document that I used is lacking in specificity, and much in the way of assumption was used.

I welcome other info and thoughts about this topic.

 

Very nice work, Karl.

Wish I could help; but, I cannot even remember the color of my hometown depot.

And, that was in the 1950s!

 

Very well done, sir!

Well, one thing about the Frisco, pretty much nothing was standard.

The Bolivar depot obviously had at least 2 paint schemes. The black and white photograph was in 1948 and the other had no specified date.

At least you gave me a starting point to figure out what color I need to look for.

 

I'm with Don on his time line.

The best example around here, Springfield, was the Turner, MO depot, first stop east of Springfield on the Memphis line. Gray with dark gray trim until about 1947, then gray with white trim.

The main gray was kind of a "battleship gray" and the dark gray trim was a "lead" color.

Tom G.