Pennsylvania Railroad passenger car painting and lettering Review

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(More customer reviews)The Pennsylvania Railroad operated a huge fleet of passenger cars, and during the 20th century, most were painted in their signature "Tuscan Red" paint. There were variations in this paint scheme, and some cars that were painted in strikingly "non-standard" paint schemes - would you believe yellow with red letters? - that one was for through train operation with the Union Pacific.
Whether you are a model railroader, looking for information to build accurate models, or a historian, looking for a record of the way one railroad emphasized its identity in the way it painted its passenger cars, you should check out this large-format volume. This book covers not only the standard Pennsy passenger car paint, which changed over the years, but also a number of other paint styles used on the railroad's passenger cars used in specific situations. The standard paint scheme changed to include different styles of lettering, different shades of red, and different configurations of pinstriping and window sash coloration. From the "roaring 20s" through the company's demise in the late 1960s, economics drove some of the changes, leading to simplifications in the formerly elaborate painting of the cars, and dictating that 24-karat gold-leaf lettering give way to "imitation gold" paint, and later to plain yellow.
Those interested in the very early (19th century and pre-WWII) paint schemes won't find much here, but anyone interested in the PRR's passenger cars from the 1920s to the 1960s will find something of interest. The rarity of photos (especially color photos) from the earlier period explains this limitation - if the photographs do not exist, they cannot be published, and a black-and-white photo does not tell you much about the colors that were used.
All in all, an excellent book, which most Pennsylvania Railroad fans, particularly those interested in passenger trains, will want to own. Those interested in trains that operated over more than one railroad (in the days when passenger trains were operated by more than on railroad) will also find some interesting information here.


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