[PRCo] Re: Gray#2 scheme

[Fred Schneider]

In spite of what old time railfans want to believe, there were some really
attractive paint schemes applied to older equipment by transit
authorities.  The PAT gray wasn't bad in its era (perhaps with better
quality paint) but it would not have worked when all the steel mills were
working and the railroads were spewing out tons of particulate matter from
steam engines.  White and Gray needs to be washed constantly.

I would also vote in favor of the red, white and blue Bicentennial paint on
the SEPTA nee P&W Bullet cars.  The styling made the cars look fast.

Mark McGuire wrote:

>   Harold,
>
>  I have to admit that when the gray paint faded(which didn't take long)
> it did look rather shabby. I have seen photos of freshly painted cars
> in the gray scheme. That's why I ordered a SPTC car in the gray.
> I have a photo from John Bromley's collection of a freshly painted\
> Gray#2 1711 on the Drake line outbound at Ft. Couch with the sign
> already changed to LIBRARY. I loved this photo so much that I had the
> identical SPTC car ordered with the same sign.
>  Perhaps I should have been more detailed and said the freshly painted
> gray#2 1700s looked awesome to me.
>  However, I relate mostly to the mod era schemes when you were there
> Harold as that's what I remembered most when I resided in
> Mt. Lebanon from 1962-1981. And may I say I loved them!
>
>                          Mark