Colours of the LIRR before MTA

Hi Roger!

There's some debate as to whether the electric locomotives (class DD1) were black or Brunswick green, which was very, very dark, and usually was mistaken for black on Pennsy locomotives.

I've seen color photos of the DD1s and in some photos they appear black and in others, possibly dark green. could just be the color dies in the film fading over the years.

I really don't know officially at this point. However, I'm going to stick with black and gold pinstriping (color scheme used for the 1939 N. Y. World's Fair.)

The cars you mentioned with the orange around the windows were painted that way for the 1964 N. Y. World's Fair. Some had a logo painted along the entire side of the car that said "Your Steel Thruway to the Fair Gateway."

Dave

There is an explanation for the variance in color on equipment painted "Brunswick Green". The paint known offically on the PRR as Dark Green Locomotive Enamel or DGLE contains a very high proportion of copper dioxide and other copper compunds that are added to what is essentially black paint. Freshly painted, you couldn't tell the difference between black and DGLE. However, as the equipment is exposed to the elements, the copper starts to oxidize giving the appearence of more green. This explains why some engines looked greener than others. This was explained to me a long time ago by a forner PRR shop mechanic. The same person also told me that when LIRR equipment came back to Juniata for major overhauls, they were given a coat of DGLE. But when painting was done in LIRR's own shops they used black. He wasn't sure why, but he guessed that it was done out of tradition and not wanting to give in fully to PRR's domination.