Without the original paint codes, we just have to select a color that looks fairly close and just go with it. Looking through old photographs of Frisco cabooses painted freight car red, one thing that becomes apparent is that no two images are the exact same color. Lighting, fading, weather, and other factors change the colors. This is a stock PPG fleet color I picked out this morning and painted as a sample area today, it looked like freight car red to me. The up close photograph has the sun behind it, the distant photograph has a bit more cloud cover. The panel was really hot when I painted it and there is high humidity so the paint dried very fast and shows some dry spray streaks. What do you think?
Depending on each individual's monitor, the color will probably look different than actual. My monitor has been color-adjusted for accuracy and I check it often. It looks good here, Paul.
Exciting news, the paint has been purchased and caboose SLSF 1291 will be painted next week. I have brought on a painter to help me. Charlie Brown has painted several SD40-2 locomotives for Stillwater Central. I intended to paint caboose SLSF 1291 with regular air sprayers that I have used for years, but after seeing Charlie use an airless paint gun, I can see he is able to put a lot more material down than I can with air, so it will be better. He is scheduled to be here Tuesday to help us sand her down for the last time, and hopefully we will have all 3 colors on her by Saturday. I am pretty excited. This has been more then 3 years in the making, and after the paint goes on we still have to finish her out and hopefully she is completed by Spring!
Way to go Paul. This has to be a pretty exciting time for you there! All of us cannot wait to see this come to life for you.
Paul, We are heading into a lot cooler weather next week with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. What is the ideal temperatures for painting your caboose? Joe
Joe, 75 degrees would be optimum. Also the color will change slightly depending on the temperature and humidity. We never know exactly what we will get until it is painted, but it will be really close to the wall I painted. We are hoping for great weather.
Hey Paul, That caboose that was at Parachute, CO is gone. Did you get it? Was it the 12575? Or was that the one that got bent?
Hi Tom. The caboose that was at Parachute, CO is 12517. I saw a photograph of it a few weeks ago at Denver, CO and now the windows in the cupola and on the end platforms have been plated over. Perhaps it is now a shoving platform? Looks in sad shape really.
Yea, I was afraid of that. The caboose 12575 was the one bad ordered in Grand Junction, CO. You could still get into the doors and all on that caboose, inside it was not too bad. When I was a brakeman on the road switcher we used that caboose every day, all day. We had a griddle and cooking stuff in there, several paper towel holders scattered around inside. I do not know how many rolls of paper towels we used to clean it up the first time. Fred was the conductor, and you did not go inside with muddy shoes, without wiping your feet, you would get your hiney chewed out. LOL. It had some of the squarest wheels under it I ever rode on, wow was it noisy at 60 mph. I liked every minute of it. Always wondered while sitting in the cupola with the windows open rolling down the tracks, if my grandpa ever pulled it too. When I went into engine service I got to pull it around too. So the circle goes. Now with its windows plated over, doors welded shut, you cannot even get in out of the rain and snow.
The painting has begun. After the yellow dries, we will mask it and apply the black paint to the end platforms and frame extensions, and then mask the black and lay down the red. Exciting to be doing this after 3 years of prepration.
Today we painted the black. It is still very wet in the previous image, but will dry with a little less gloss, very difficult to photograph as it seems to swallow light. The red paint will go on later this week!
