Cab Interior Color Question

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JBodenmann
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Cab Interior Color Question

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
I have a question. What was New York Central's cab interior color for steam locomotives? I have some color photos but none showing the inside of the cab.
Jack
Steam Engine Dan
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by Steam Engine Dan »

hmmm, ours for our model is all black. contact the NYCHS jack. they would be your best bet.

here is their contact info. https://nycshs.org/contact-us/

Daniel
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Bill Shields
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by Bill Shields »

The interior cab color of every Hudson I have seen in pictures has been black .

But then they were all black and white photos..and there ain't no Hudson's to crawl around to disprove that notion.

There are a few of us floating around who may have actually been inside the cab of one. :mrgreen:
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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LVRR2095
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by LVRR2095 »

I certainly don’t know what the NYC standard was……but 99.9% of every steam locomotive cab I’ve ever been in was painted forest green on the inside cab walls.
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PRR5406
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by PRR5406 »

I'd wager it was some shade of green.
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RR Ty
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by RR Ty »

AD1C09B8-7F3C-4223-9822-35B6CEFA8CFD.jpeg
I scrolled through my tablet and found a picture from several year ago when I was up in Elkhart at the New York Central museum. Don’t know if it’s correct for while it was in service, but the interior does appear to be green.
318J
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by 318J »

Green was a pretty standard cab interior color. Stained wood was out there but less common. Of course there were railroads that plastered it in black too, but green was the staple.
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ALCOSTEAM
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by ALCOSTEAM »

Years ago while looking for paint for the inside of cabs I happened across an old Detroit Diesel engine that was still pretty clean with original paint and thought the color to be what I had seen in pictures of locomotive cabs. While modern rattle cans vary the basic color still seems quite nice for a cab interior.
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DaveD
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by DaveD »

Jack, you may recall that the cab interior of Doug Alkire's President Washington was a very light blue, perhaps a grayish blue. I understand that Doug did the research and painted it the proper color, and I plan to paint the inside of mine a light sky blue. I also heard that the reason for this color was to keep the bees from building nests on roof surfaces, and the light blue looks like the sky to them. I also know from personal experiences that in Louisiana, where I'm from, most porch ceilings were painted that color for the same reason--no problem with mud daubers and wasp nests!

That may not be the case with the locos built in the north, but maybe?
Dave Dalton
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JBodenmann
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thanks to everyone for the info. It seems that the paint color was very similar to the color Southern Pacific used in their cabs. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think it was called seafoam green. I have heard it called Weyerhauser green too. I think I have some on hand, if it hasn't dried out. The picture RR Ty posted here looking through the open cab door showing the green paint was most helpful. Thanks RR Ty. There is nothing like a photo.
Jack
Rwilliams
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by Rwilliams »

Jack,

At one time I had a chance to borrow a few of the SP color drift panels from the paint shop in Sacramento. I wanted the correct color for the interior of the SP caboose in progress. Same color was also used for some steam locomotive cabs. The SP Seafoam Green was best matched by Rustoleum Painters Touch Leafy Green. Never had a complaint yet on the Leafy Green.

Several years ago I chanced upon a trainline air gauge from an SP caboose cupola. On the back of the gauge body was a perfect sample of the interior green untouched by coal smoke or tobacco smoke. It too matched the color drift panel perfectly.

My father also reported some steam locomotive cabs on the SP were painted in a light grey as were some of the early diesel cabs.

Robert
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makinsmoke
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Re: Cab Interior Color Question

Post by makinsmoke »

That color of 3001 looks more like a Forest Green.

Isn’t Seafoam a light, grayish green?
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