Boston & Maine Paint Information

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index

Freight Cars

1890

Boxcars painted Lead color, also known as slate. Flatcars, coal cars and roofs of boxcars painted mineral brown. All lettering is in yellow, with ironwork painted black.

Portland Daily Press, 29 July 1890

"Lead Color" was given as being a mix of Keg Lead (white) and lampblack.

The carriage painters' illustrated manual, 1877

1897

All freight cars except cabooses, refrigerator and line cars, are repainted to Mineral Brown (a new shade, slightly darker than the color used previously) with white lettering. The trucks and ironwork is also brown. Reefers, cabooses and line cars have black ironwork.

Railroad Car Journal, December 1897

As the result of a boxcar accidentally being lettered "Boston & Mitane," the railroad adopted a new outshopping stencil that identified which paint shop was last to paint each car, using the first three letters of the shop's name (Lawrence, Salem, or Somerville). Stencil was six inches across.

Railroad Car Journal June 1897

Passenger Equipment

1871

Passenger cars painted light straw and "richly striped and ornamented"

The Boston Traveler (Boston, MA), 16 May 1871

1873

A new Wagner parlor car was painted wine and striped in gold leaf.

The Boston Globe (Boston, MA), 9 July 1873

1882

Parlor cars painted dark maroon.

The National Car Builder, August 1882, pg. 89

1884

Parlor cars painted lake with gold ornamentation.

The National Car Builder, July 1884, pg. 81

1885

Passenger car "Magnolia" painted deep crimson

The Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA), 22 May 1885

Baggage cars repainted from yellow brown to Tuscan Red.

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 14 February 1885

1886

Two new parlor cars painted dark cherry with gold ornamentation.

The Boston Globe (Boston, MA), 3 June 1886

Passenger and baggage cars painted light straw. Interiors finished in mahogany with black walnut trim.

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 7 September 1886

1890

Baggage cars repainted from Tuscan Red to yellow.

The Beverly Citizen (Beverly, MA), 22 November 1890

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 29 November 1890

1891

Passenger cars assigned to the Lowell, Eastern and Western divisions are painted dark olive green with gold lettering.

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 26 November 1891

1892

New passenger cars built this year are all painted olive green with gold striping.

The Daily Kennebec Journal (Augusta, ME), 10 March 1892

1893

One source claims that B&M passenger cars are painted white giving the railroad the nickname "Ghost Line." This is dubious.

The Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, PA), 24 February 1893

Pullman coaches used on the B&M painted "regulation Pullman Color"

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 14 September 1893

1897

The last yellow car is repainted "dark," completing a six-year repainting process.

The Lewiston Evening Journal (Lewiston, ME), 2 October 1897

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index