Northern Pacific Railroad Paint Information

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index

Freight Cars

1880

Cabooses painted bright red.

The Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), 20 July 1880

1881

Cabooses painted right red lead.

The National Car Builder, December 1881, pg. 154

1882

Refrigerator cars painted bright yellow.

The River Press (Fort Benton, MT), 20 December 1882

Photographs of these cars can be found at these links: [1] and [2].

Passenger Equpiment

1874

Coaches painted light straw with lead colored trimming. Posts and panels are black striped with gold leaf.

The Petaluma Weekly Argus (Petaluma, CA) 5 June 1874

1881

Coaches are brown.

New coaches built by Barney & Smith are painted yellow.

The National Car Builder March 1881 pg. 25

Coaches painted bright straw with maroon and dark brown trim.

The Duluth Tribune (Duluth, MN), 15 April 1881

1883

Pullman coaches built for the Northern Pacific are painted "Pullman Color."

The National Car Builder July 1883 pg. 80

1891

Mail cars are painted white.

The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, IN), 8 April 1891

1898

Cars assigned to the express train "Copper City Limited" are painted deep green with copper trim.

The Saint Paul Globe (St. Paul, MN), 30 April 1898

1905

Master Painter A.J. Bishop orders that no striping be added to passenger cars.

"Notes and Comments," Railway Master Mechanic July 1905 p266.

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index