PRCo PCC Colors

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	Let me throw a little more fire into the pot on the color issue!:>)

	Everyone has the color postcard of 1734 when new . . .

		[a moment of silence for those who don't;
			. . . even two moments of silence!]

	. . . the car is sitting beside the Highland Car House in service on
the 73--Highland, at least according to the destination sign.  The car
was received by PRCo on 1949.03.14 and was placed into service on
1949.03.19 and the background fits this time frame.  The car has a
decidedly orange bias to the red.  The card was published by John Stern
who is a long term member of PTM, if I am not mistaken.  The cream is
quite flat and appears more white in the bright sun.  [Incidently, the
roof monitor alone has that hint of very light grey color which has been
discussed here before.]  The postcard had been sold in all the museums;
think I got my first one from PRMA many decades back!
	This color is very similar to the color photos I have from other
sources as well as the video *PCC-Trilogy* where 1200s were photographed
on 16mm movie-film when those cars were brand new!  And these colors
seem to be lighter than 1711 at the museum.  So that is three different
sources of photos which are all very similar; sorry, 4-different photo
sources.  I also have some color shots from Russel Schramm, some of
whose B&W photos on the interurban appear in Dave's website under my
collection.  And Russel is the photographer of that dynamic, stunning,
exhiliarating photo of 1717 bursting forth across the Warrington trestle
southbound to Charleroi which was used on the cover of *Trolley Talk*
#23, June 1959!
	I believe that 1711 was repainted at the expense of one individual;
will go back thru *Trolley Fare* when I have more time.  Don't know how
much the museum got involved in the painting of the car; it was not done
on museum property if I remember correctly.
	I have often wondered how they overlooked painting the area around the
front windows black - seems to me that PTM would be right on top of
that; I know that Ed Lybarger would not miss that detail.  So this
*suggests* (but does not confirm) that the colors chosen were individual
rather than done by the museum team.

> On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, Jim Holland wrote:

>       All the color photos I have of PRCo PCC equipment when relatively new
> show the red to have a definite orange bias.  The color is red but it is
> a soft red, not deep and hard.  Also, if you have the video
> *PCC-Triolgy* there are color photos of 1200s from 1940 when  NEW!
> These were shot quite professionally on 16mm film on tripod and are
> excellent in color rendition.

>> Derrick J Brashear wrote:

>> FWS3 if he were here would probably have good comments

Jim Holland wrote:
 
>         The email that I received from Fred indicated that he was quite
> ecstatic about the model he received - he did *not-specifically* comment
> on the paint except to say that PRCo cars did not remain in that
> pristine condition for long - they were battered and worn mighty fast!

>> How much can you count on color of shots that old to
>> not have shifted over the years?

>         But I find it interesting that my prints from slides  AND  the video
> *PCC-Trilogy* indicate a strong bias for an orange-red, or rather,
> red-orange!  Interesting how they faded identically!

>> The thing that brings this to mind is the
>> comment on the photo of, I believe, the 4 aces in PCC From Coast To Coast
>> about the orthochromatic film being responsible for the dark rendering of
>> the car in that shot.

>         Excellent observation.  Who here can remember the exact paint scheme of
> anything 51-years old?!:>)  Our recent memories of the paint schemes
> tend to color our *original* memories and the B&W prints and their lack
> of grayscale renderings (golly-gee, didn't computers and printers have
> that problem at one time?!?!) made the red seem super extra dark!  That
> could definitely *color* our perception of the original paint.
>         I can't exactly remember the original paint schemes but definitely
> remember thinking that repainted cars were *darker* than the originals
> when I first saw the repaints!
>         And as was mentioned by Ed in another post, there were four different
> mfgrs. of Scarlet-Ash-Red (someone describe the color to me  *without*
> using PRCo as an example!!:>)) and who is to say that their mixes were
> identical.  It is said that if a paint job is going to take more than
> one bottle/can of paint that 2-3 should be pre-mixed, even from the same
> batch, to produce repeatable results for the project.

>         I am sticking with the orange bias on the red, thank you!

>> And even having a look at weathered paint on a surviving piece wouldn't
>> necessarily help, at least I think artificial pigment paints only came
>> into widespread use in the mid-late '50s.

>         True - everything changes with age, whether exposed or covered.

>> -D
>> -has pondered questions of color perception far more than a
>> non-color-blind-civil-engineering-trained-computer-programmer should have

James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
    To e-mail privately, please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/