Union Tank Line: Paint Information
Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index
Union Tank Line was owned by the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY), so color standards were uniform between the two companies for much of their existence.
Freight Cars
1873
Tank cars built by the Harrisburg Car Manufacturing Company were painted with white tanks, blue domes and red ends and frames.
Lancaster Intelligencer (Lancaster, PA), 2 April 1873
1877
A new batch of tank cars from the same manufacturer was painted the same.
Pittsburgh Commercial and Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA), 8 May 1877
1880s
White, 1993 states that UTL cars were painted red through the 1880s up until 1912, when they started to be painted black.
1883
SOCONY tank cars painted blue.
Daily Los Angeles Herald, 14 November 1883
Dupont paint color number 83-30483, 254-35405. Commonly known as Southern Pacific "Daylight Red" was also specified as Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York) Red.
Pullman paint color numbers 70-65 and 70-105. Commonly known as Southern Pacific "Daylight Red" was also specified as Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York) Red.
See: Southern Pacific Common Standard Color Drift #28
From Southern Pacific Painting and Lettering Guide. SPH&TS Upland, 2019.