Locomotive Front End Paints

Historic Paint Index / Locomotive Front End Paints

Introduction

The locomotive crew was responsible for the maintenance of the locomotive, particularly the front end, as it was simultaneously the most visible part of the machine and the quickest to become dirty. Many railroads included clauses in their labor agreements outlining the duties of engine crews in this regard; for example, article 8 of the 1891 agreement between the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fireman reads "The company will furnish a man to clean all flues, fire and ash pans at terminal points, but firemen will keep their front ends and stacks well painted, and their engines in good order." In the period that engineers were assigned to specific locomotives, a good amount of liberty was permitted in carrying out this task. The smokebox region of the locomotive is difficult to research for this reason, as it rarely followed the company's standardized paint instructions, and often must be researched on a case-by-case basis.

Using the Denver & Rio Grande as an example, a number of smokebox paint variations appear in photographs. D&RG 87 and 100 (narrow gauge 4-4-0s) both had dark smokeboxes with bright smokebox doors. D&RG 170 (narrow gauge 4-6-0) had a large star painted across the smokebox front. Other locomotives' smokeboxes were a solid color, but varied between very dark gloss and a lighter graphite appearance.

Arthur "Art" Campbell, an engineer in Utah on the Rio Grande Western and the D&RG, carried a can of plumbago paint in the toolbox of D&RG 768 (standard gauge 4-6-0) which he used on the smokebox and stack every time that he made an on-time arrival at terminal stations. His fireman Gilbert Gould described its appearance between 1908-1916 as silver which "would shine fit to knock your eye out."

Gould, William John Gilbert. "My Life on the Mountain Railroads." Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1995.

While many commercial options were available for locomotive front ends, many railroad shops mixed their own paint. In 1932 Railway Age recommended that railroads salvage journal oil from hotboxed axle bearings for mixing front end paints.

Bon, I.C. "Scrap Handling and Reclamation," Railway Age 25 June 1932.

Manufacturers of Locomotive Front End Paint

• Charles R. Long Jr. Co. (Staybrite Front End Paint and Lo-Kost Front End Paint): Louisville, KY.

• Frazer Specialty Co. (Frazer Locomotive Joint and Boiler Front Cement): Detroit MI.

• Frost Paint & Oil Company (Kapak): Minneapolis MN. Described as "jet black and glossy."

• National Paint Works (Cheeseman & Elliot): Factories at Williamsport PA and Brooklyn, New York

• Pittsburgh Plate

• Sherwin-Williams

Plumbago Paint

Plumbago is an archaic name for graphite or black lead; plumbago paints were manufactured using graphite as a base. It was available in many shades ranging from black to a bright pewter, and pigmented to produce tuscan and olive green. It was introduced around 1870, the earliest mention available being an 1870 catalog from the Plumbago Paint Company; the Paint, Oil & Drug Review described it as follows in 1897:

Graphite is nothing more or less than plumbago or black lead; it is the metal from which pencils and stove polish is made. There are many different grades, and those suitable for pencils and stove polish may not serve the purpose of the paint maker.

Graphite paint is distinctively an American product. It was the American habit of 'nosing around after something new' that turned this metal in the direction of the paint factory, and it was American chemical skill and constructive genius that devised processes and built machinery by which the metal could be converted into a finished article and placed on the market. It has been producted in this country for about twenty years, and increased quantities are consumed as the years speed by, and of late a considerable amount of the paint has been exported, mainly into England. The paint differs from the general line of paints in that is not intended for any and every purpose, the contention being that it has no equal for application to iron and tin exposed to the weather. There is now little or no doubt as to its being a practical paint from every point of view within the scope of its legitimate field; the stages of trial and experiment have been passed. The chief drawback to its wider use is found in its higher cost, which, if experts may be believed, is more than made up by its longevity as a decorator and preservative.

Aside from durability, the cardinal point in favor of graphite paint, it is urged that it covers more surface than ordinary paint, and that it is easier to apply. Its covering power is explained by the statement that graphite is about one-third the weight of white lead, and one-half that of mineral paint. It is estimated that one gallon of graphite paint ready for the brush will cover 700 square feet of surface, one coat, and this is said to be a low estimate. One objection to this paint for roof work is its slippery nature, making it unsafe for persons to walk on flat roofs painted with it. There may be others, but they are unknown to the writer.

Prof. J. Spenrath, Director of the Industrial School at Aixla-Chapelle, France, has made a large number of experiment on the subject of protective paints, and gives it as his opinion that graphite, of all pigments, is the least affected by chemical influences, and is therefore apparently the most suitable for the fullest protection of all iron and other metal surfaces liable to rust.

"Graphite, or Plumbago, as a Paint Material," Paint, Oil and Drug Review vol.24 no.3 21 July 1897.

Staybrite Front End Paint

Staybrite or Stabrite Front End Paint was manufactured in Louisville, Kentucky, by the Charles R. Long Jr. Company, part of Charles Long Jr.'s conglomerate of railroad supply companies. Charles R. Long Jr. Co. also produced Lo-Kost Front End Paint, locomotive black varnish, and the Lovico brand of railroad equipment paints.

Charles R. Long Jr. was a native of Louisville, beginning his career as secretary and treasurer of the Stratler Brothers Tobacco Company from 1890 to 1896. He left the Stratler Bros. to establish his own paint manufacturing company in 1896 and co-founded railroad supply manufacturer Harry Vissering & Company in 1909.

"Charels R. Long, Jr. Buys Interests of Harry Vissering," Railway Mechanical Engineer May 1925.

Stabrite Front End Paint was first advertised in 1901. In 1905 application for trademark status was made. In 1918 the Ira D. Washburn Company also filed for a Stabrite trademark, and the Examiner of Trade-Mark Interferences determined that neither company was entitled to exclusive use of the names Stabrite nor Lo-Kost as "a monopoly cannot be acquired in the use of words which are merely descriptive of the character, properties, qualities or composition of an article." The ruling was that the trademark granted to the Charles R. Long Jr. Company was not the name itself, but the design of the company's herald which incorporated the name as an element. In 1919 the Howard L. Fisher Company also attempted to apply for a Stabrite trademark and being denied sued the Charles R. Long Jr. Co and lost. Appeals to the patent office decision carried through 1922 with every court upholding the Commissioner of Patents' decision. This ended the use of the Stabrite/Staybrite and Lo-Kost names. Both Stabrite Front End Paint and Lo-Kost Front End Paint are last mentioned by name in the trade press in 1925. As Stabrite could no longer be registered, after abandonment by the Charles R. Long Jr. Company the name was used by various non-railroad companies to represent a brand of paint preserver, a furniture wax, a gun grease, fluorescent lighting, and stainless steel sheeting.

"Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents," The Trade-Mark Reporter July 1918.

"In Re: The Application of Chas. R. Long, Jr., Co." The Trade-Mark Reporter May 1922.

"Postum Cereal Co., Inc. v. California Fig Nut Co. (142 Ms. Dee. 420)", The Trade-Mark Reporter October 1923.

"No-D-Ka Dentirrice Co. v. S. S. Kresce Co.," The Trade-Mark Reporter May 1928.

Charles died in Battle Creek, Michigan, on 12 August 1932. The Charles R. Long, Jr., Company shifted its focus to railroad enamels and supplied the Pullman Company with paint for its passenger car products. It was purchased by the American-Marietta Company in 1947, joining the Marietta Paint & Color Co., Sewall Paint & Varnish Co., Ottowa Paint Works, and Schorn Paint Mfg. Co. as A-M subsidiaries.

Earl Knoob's description of original Staybrite paint from the Denver & Rio Grande Western, discovered during his tenure with the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad:

"Aluminum paint was used on the smokeboxes until the late 1980's when I started mixing up 'graphite colored' paint using high temp flat black and the same high temp aluminum to get a metallic gray. My thought is that it looks good, was historic in appearance and it weathered much more gracefully than basic aluminum. The first time engine coughed up a wad of sooty water, it trashed the paint job. In doing my research for the color, I found the D&RGW paint spec which showed the smokeboxes painted 'Staybrite front end polish.' Well, looking through the paint car one day I found a 10 gallon bucket labeled "Staybrite Front End Paint".

"Wow! It was basic metallic medium gray. That's what I based it on."

Red Paint on Locomotive Front Ends

Crimson red paint was a common non-standard practice among railroad crews in decorating their locomotives. It was usually applied around the top cap of the stack. As a matter of personalization, the knowledge of the existence of red stacks usually comes from eyewitness accounts or general orders banning its use rather than official railroad documentation.

• New York Central & Hudson River Railroad locomotives had red stack caps.

"Spikes and Ties," The Rocky Mountain News 31 March 1880.

• The Chicago Great Western used red on their locomotive stacks so prolifically in the 1880s that the company became known as the "Red Smokestack Road."

• Union Pacific's General Master Mechanic Middleton forbade the use of red on locomotive stacks in 1891.

Salt Lake Daily Tribune 23 January 1891.

• Some Chicago, Burlington & Quincy locomotives operating in Denver Colorado had red stacks, including the entire barrel rather than just the cap, in 1891.

Salt Lake Daily Tribune 30 January 1891.

• Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway 30 received a red stack and drivers in October 1886. Rio Grande Western Railway 35 and 51 both received red stacks in January 1891. In 1894 however, newly-appointed Director of Motive Power Lamplugh of the RGW issued a general order forbidding the use of red paint on stacks and numberplates saying that "too frequent use of the color impairs its value as a signal."

Salt Lake Tribune 26 September 1894.

Standard Practice Front End Paints

Union Pacific

• 1887: No.29 ivory drop black is used on the smokebox and No. 30 "Asphaltum" is used on locomotive stacks.

• 1890: Specification NO. 768: Painting Locomotive Engines and Tenders instructs that the stack is primed with a paint mixed from 10 pounds English red lead standard color No.77, 3 pounds Johnson's magnetic paint standard color No.95, 1/4 pound Eddie's Lamp Black standard color No.65 thinned with priming oil. No instruction is provided for painting the smokebox or the final coat for the stack.

Canadian Pacific

• 1896: The smokebox and firebox inside the cab are painted while hot with one coat of linseed oil mixed with a small amount of lampblack.

"The smokebox, or extension front, and the face plate inside the cab, we give one coat of linseed oil with a little lampblack in it. This is not done until the engine is in steam and those parts are heated. It makes a thin coating and does not scale or blister. The drivers like it, and they rub it over every little while with an oil waste and get a sort of polish on it." - Thomas Jones, Canadian Pacific Railway, Montreal.

"Mr. Jones' Paper," Railroad Car Journal Vol.VI No.10 October 1896 p247.

Denver & Rio Grande Western

• 1926: Stay-brite paint is used on the front ends. Reiterated in D&RGW Standard Practice: Painting Locomotives and Tenders dated 1 November 1937.

Letter to shop foremen at Alamosa Colorado, 23 January 1926

M.L.P.B.&M.R.R.

• 1896: Smokeboxes are painted with one gallon of engine black finish mixed with two gallons linseed oil.

This, which at first would seem to be more expensive, is, in fact, cheaper than the ordinary stack black, wears better, gives better satisfaction, and is less liable to crack or peel." -Albert P. Dane

Mr. Dane's Paper," Railroad Car Journal Vol.VI No.10 October 1896 p250.

Northern Pacific

• 1896: Smokeboxes, doors, and stacks are painted with graphite paint mixed with linseed oil. This was then finished with a mix of lamp black and linseed oil rubbed with a sponge or rag.

"For the extension front, which I take to mean the smoke arch and door, and the stack in many instances included, I have found a good article which could be used after the metal had been well cleaned from rust, scale and grease, was to apply a well rubbed out coat (that is a thin coat) of graphite paint, mixed with raw linseed oil, not thin when mixed, but mixed to a fair consistency and then applied thin by brushing out, this of course may not make a perfect black finish, but the black finish can be produced later after the front has been heated or the graphite paint has become dry by the occasional application of a little lamp black and linseed oil rubbed over with waste or a sponge, and then well wiped off will in time produce an excellent appearing front." - A.J. Bishop, Master Painter, Como Shops, Northern Pacific Road, St. Paul.

"Mr. Bishop's Paper," Railroad Car Journal Vol.VI No.10 October 1896 p249.