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