quote:

---

Something more on Bogie colors (colours):

(From a posting to the DSP-P eGroups dated 8SEP00)

List,

First of all, Jerry Kitts says hello to the list. He is not currently on
this list or any of the others. Just too much e-mail taking time away
from running Foothill Model Works. I told him that the subject of Mason
Bogie colors had come to the surface again, and specifically about the
colored Mason Lithe he saw in Mass. He wants me to pass on to the group
what he saw there.

The museum did not just house the locomotive items. Remember, Mason was
a textile man. He stated that the Old Colony group was originally in the
original Mason plant. At that time they had all of the Mason records.
Just as though the shop had closed for the night and the employees never
returned. I think it was in the early 60's that they suffered a fire. He
saw pictures of the interior before the fire. All kinds of patterns,
parts and Mason stuff in general. A great deal of the paper work was
lost in a fire (the So. Park stuff) as well as most of the wood patterns
for sand casting. The remaining railroad collection was moved to their
present location and the railroad items are packed away. Amongst the
hundreds of drawings there are also many many hand written letters from
Mason himself. Way to much paperwork to sort through in a few days time.
Somewhere in the collection, he felt there must be notes or orders to
the paint shop.

Anyway, on to the colors. I had a chance to talk with him at length
about the colors and the notes he took. The litho is of the loco
Highland Light, a 4-4-0. He was told that this color print was typical
of the paint schemes used on all Mason loco's, not just the Bogies. And
that the colors used in the litho were to be used by the shop in
painting their locos. He said that the hand applied colors to the print
were done very professionally, complete with all the shade and shadow,
pinstripes and curlicue's. Baldwin had their color "Lake", Mason had his
Green. In short, the color scheme was quite stunning and good looking.
We must remember that Mason was an Englishman, as were his workers, and
the loco's have that English look to them in regards to colors.

I realize that trying to describe colors verbally is a pretty sad way of
getting the message across, but using his notes, I'll try.

The Boiler - Russian Iron with polished brass bands. Nothing "blue" at
all in the Russian Iron. Very much a gun metal grey color with the
highlighted areas (reflected sunlight) looking silver-grey.

Smokebox and Stack - A slate grey or dark graphite color.

Cab, Tender, Pilot and Rear Truck Sideframes - Green. Not really an
apple green, a bit darker. (See earlier discussions today on this color.
Floquil makes a color called "Light Green", No. 110040 in their solvent
based paint line. It's just a hair lighter than that. I would say it's
really more of a medium green, but certainly not a real dark color. The
cab also has some other details. The window frames are not painted, just
natural colored, clear finished wood. The
wood moldings under the edges of the cab roof are also natural wood.
Other wood moldings around the sides of the cab are a silver-white
color.

More on the Tender - Lettering on the sides of the tender is done in a
burnt orange. There are horizontal stripes in burnt orange running
around the top and bottom of the sides of the tender. All around the
tender!, wrapping around the water wings, down the sides and I presume
across the back. Each of these orange stripes is bordered by black
pinstripes, then a small gap (showing the green), then cream colored
stripes. All of the scroll work is done in cream. Grab handles are
silver-white. The tender frame is also burnt orange with silver white
highlights. The tender wheel centers are burnt orange with silver-white
side walls on the tires. The rear truck side frames are green with
stripes of silver-white and the burnt orange.

The Pilot - Green with silver-white and the burnt orange stripes on the
ends of the front beam.

Sand Dome - The base was Russian iron with orange stripe around it.
Bottom band, center section and upper band were polished brass. Upper
part of dome was green with the center cap polished brass.

Steam Dome - Same as sand, except entire dome from bottom band up was
polished brass.

Headlight - Basic color was green. Raised panel (door?) on side of lamp
was green with thin silver-white pinstripes around the edges. Remainder
of side was burnt orange. Front of lamp was green. Protruding ring
around lens was burnt orange. Top appears to be black/graphite color.
Base of lamp was polished brass. Lamp brackets were green with burnt
orange trim on inside of cast in holes.

Cylinders, steam chests, valves and piping - polished brass

Front truck wheels and drivers - same as rear truck wheels, burnt orange
centers. The centers of the wheels (ends of the axles) had concentric
circles of the same colors used elsewhere with additional colors. About
nine shades total. The driver spokes had pinstripes radiating out from
the center, forming a sharp point. These extended out about 1/3 the
length of the spoke.

Running boards - clear wood edged with polished brass.

Rods and valve gear - shiny metal color??

Well, that should be enough to digest. He did add the comment that he
didn't doubt the word of the curators there. They were very cordial and
helpful as well as being quite knowledgeable about the collection of
drawings and paper, Many of the drawing were very large, 4' x 8' or
larger. All were ink on linen and in very good condition. Most were
machining drawings of the individual components used in the construction
of loco's with parts lists describing which parts to use in the building
of a particular engine. He also stated that he saw plans for std., 3'
and 30" gauge engines - all bogies.

Thanks,

Doug Heitkamp


(Further comments from a friend: A colored rendering of the "Highland Light" appears in
"Railroads in the Days of Steam", American Heritage Junior Library,
American Heritage Publishing Co, 1960, pg 139. The Highland light was
built in 1867, when it was usual to apply lots of ornamentation to
locomotives. The thesis that all the bogies, and in particular the
South Park's bogies, built in 1877-1880, followed the conventions
of 1867 is hard to swallow. The surviving builders photo's, while
still showing ornamentation similar to that described above, show
several dark and light shades for the basic colors of the engines, so
I question that they were ALL a near apple green. But I do think a
dark green engine, white or gold lettering and red shading would look
sharp. A machinist friend years ago showed me some apple green sheet
metal that he claimed was Russia Iron. He had used it to lag the
cylinder of a stationary engine model. So the lagging could be a
green shade too, to complement a basic green engine.)

Andy

---

Scot Lawrence
Rochester, NY USA
http://gold.mylargescale.com/Scottychaos

quote:

---

Andy's data only makes reference to "burnt Orange"
any thoughts on that?

---

They builder or the engineer was from the University of Texas?

Towne Comee