ET&WNC paint scheme

[nickco201]

  While I realize that the majority of the ET&WNCs locomotives were painted black for most of their lives. There were I believe 2 different green paint schemes used on the railroad's 4-6-0s....Was this actual southern green used with gold lettering, red/white trim? Also was the boiler russian iron or also painted ?
   This leads to question does anyone make correct southern railroad green. I personally think the paint sold by weaver models is very close but maybe a tad light... ?
   Thanks
   - Andrew

[calenelson]

Hey Andrew...this would be a good question asked here:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Tweetsie/

it's the Tweetsie Yahoo group...folks like Johnny Greabeal and Tim Smith lounge around there quite often!....another link that may be of some help is:

http://www.urbaneagle.com/slim/etwnc.html

I hope this helps!

cale, dad of IV and lifelong "Tweetsie" fan!

[Kevin Strong]

According to Johnny Graybeal's Along the ET&WNC, vol. 2, which covers the 10-wheelers in extreme detail, the original shade of green was "likely close to...southern green," but states that the exact shade is unknown. Lettering was gold, with aluminum (silver) trim on the driver tires, cylinder ends and running boards.

In 1936, the locomotive paint schemes changed slightly, going to a green which is described as darker than Southern green, with aluminum and red trim.

The boiler would be plannished iron. The text does not specifically reference "Russian" iron, which was a very particular--and highly reflective--kind of plannished iron, so I would expect the finish to be a bit darker and not quite as reflective, as was used on many Baldwin locos of the period. This would not have been light blue, as is the custom in the model railroad world. The light blue associated with Russian iron and other plannished jackets comes from the fact that they were reflective, and often reflected the color of the sky when seen. A polished dark or medium grey would be more appropriate. Plannished iron was used until paints improved so they could withstand the heat of the boiler. I can't find any references to the boiler ever being painted in Graybeal's book.

To simulate a plannished iron jacket, I use one of two methods: The easiest is to use Testors' Model Masters "Gunmetal" buffable paint. I'm told by those who study 19th-century locomotive paint schemes that this is the closest paint finish available.


You can see in this photo, it does look blue when seen outdoors, but up close, looks like this:



The second method I use is to use a chemical blackener on brass sheet, as described here:
http://archive.mylargescale.com/articles/masterclass/mc2/mc2-03/patina1.asp
note: this article was written before I learned of the buffable paints.

The results can be seen here:

(Incidentally, this mogul is based on ET&WNC #2)

I like the aesthetics of the blackened brass jackets, but they're a royal pain to do on boilers with cast on details like domes (like the 4-6-0) or with tapers (also the 4-6-0). The paint is a close second.

Sorry, I can't help you on a suggestion for a suitable green paint. Graybeal's book may mention one, but I couldn't find it glancing through the obvious sections. I suppose you may get a better (quicker) answer by asking on the Tweetsie forum. I do highly recommend Graybeal's series of books on the ET&WNC if you're remotely interested in modeling the railroad.

One quick note - The g-scale dry transfers listed on the urbaneagle site Cale referenced are no longer available. You'll have to go with custom decals instead.

Later,

K