Chicago Burlington & Quincy Paint Information
Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index
Freight Cars
1881
Cabooses painted orange with english vermillion clerestory, black ironwork and tuscan red ladders and doorsteps.
The National Car Builder, September 1881, pg. 102
1887
"Old" boxcars painted slate color.
The Morning News (Savannah, GA), 26 April 1896
1880
Grain and merchandise cars painted brown, using either Parker's Cement or Prince's Mineral Paint.
The National Car Builder, April 1880, pg. 63
1881
Stock cars painted brown, using either Parker's Cement or Prince's Mineral Paint. Ironwork, trucks and roof edges painted black.
The National Car Builder, September 1881, pg. 109
1883
Boxcars painted brown, using either Parker's Cement or Prince's Mineral Paint. Ironwork, trucks and roof edges painted black.
The National Car Builder, October 1883 pg. 117
1885
"Air Brake" fast freight cars used between Chicago and Denver via the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad have yellow doors with a vertical green bar in the center.
"Air Brake" fast freight cars used between Chicago and the Pacific coast via the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe are painted yellow with black doors and a cross of red and white bars.
The Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), 7 April 1885
1888
Brown is begun to be used on ironwork instead of black.
The National Car and Locomotive Builder, October 1888, pg. 151
1892
Cabooses painted yellow.
Heath & Milligan Manufacturing Co. advertisement, The Official Railway List, 1892
1893
Prince's Metallic (brown) used on freight cars.
"Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Burlington Iowa, June 30th 1893 - GENTLEMEN: I have been using your Metallic Paint on freight cars and buildings for many years, and have found it giving good satisfaction. I recommend it for bridges, and have just started a gang of painters to paint our Iron Bridges with it, of which we have over fifty to be painted this season. Yours Truly, Fred Johnson, Foreman Painter."
The rusting of iron and steel: how it may be prevented and how it is promoted, 1895
Cabooses are repainted from yellow to red.
The Aurora Daily Express(Aurora, IL), 21 August 1893
Passenger Equipment
1877
Passenger cars painted orange with red, green and lead striping. Roofs painted sky blue.
The Rock Island Argus (Rock Island, IL), 8 March 1877
1882
Coaches painted canary yellow.
The National Car Builder, August 1882, pg. 86
1888
New passenger cars painted tuscan red.
The National Car and Locomotive Builder, October 1888, pg. 147
1889
Passenger cars repainted to deep red.
The Saint Paul Daily Globe (St. Paul, MN), 16 March 1889
1893
Some passenger cars still painted yellow.
The Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, PA), 24 February 1893
1895
Coaches painted yellow with mineral brown trucks.
Locomotive Engineering, 1895, pg. 763
1899
Passenger cars used between Denver and Chicago painted olive green.
The Daily News (Denver, CO), 4 May 1899
1904
Passenger cars painted "standard Pullman color" with a broad gold strip along the bottom of the carbody.
The Ottumwa Courier (Ottumwa, IA), 27 December 1904
Buildings and Structures
1893
"Permanent buildings" and stations are painted drab.
"Plain buildings," bridges and water tanks are painted with Princes' Metallic (brown).
The rusting of iron and steel: how it may be prevented and how it is promoted, 1895