I'm an L&N modeler but want to model some SRR heavyweight sleepers for an early 1950s Piedmont consist. What color should the roofs be painted? The four photos of SRR heavyweight sleepers in the Southern Railway Color Guide were all taken in the 1960s. Please help.

Many thanks.

Mike Welborn

-- Michael B. Welborn (mwelborn@comcast.net), June 16, 2004

Answers

I am not sure----hopefully somebody else will be. But I suspect a heavyweight SRR pullman was a uniform color all over. And that would probably be the very dark green which almost looks black, called "pullman green".

Hope somebody can answer this for sure, as I would like to see the answer myself. I am just making a guess.

As I recall, most heavyweight equipment all over the country was relatively colorless, perhaps Illinois Central would be an exception.And of course there is always the tuscan red of the Pennsy. But I think those would be exceptions.

Beautiful and varied colors (as well as a healthy dose of unpainted stainless steel) was part of the appeal of the new lightweight equipment, in fact.

Guess you know that the Piedmont Limited did, in some years, have some stainless steel sleepers as well as heavyweight.

-- bill haithcoat (bhaithcoat@ajc.com), June 17, 2004.