Illinois Central Railroad Paint Information
Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index
Passenger Equipment
1908
Coaches are painted "deep greenish tint" on the exterior and "softer shades" of green on the interior.
Manchester Democrat (Manchester, Iowa), 21 October 1908.
Freight Cars
1899
The Illinois Central adopts air pumps to paint freight cars, which provides a smoother, more protective coat than hand-painting with a brush.
The Morris County Chronicle (Morristown, New Jersey), 5 January 1900.
1946
Two-bay covered hoppers built for Illinois Central by Pullman-Standard are painted with Sherwin-Williams Carclad. Factory coat was reported to be defect-free in 1951.
Railway Age 30 August 1951 p56.
Structures
1858
Right of way milestones are painted white.
Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (Wheeling, Virginia), 1 June 1858.
1902
The Paducah Kentucky paint shop and planing mill are painted with a fireproof paint. The newspaper description indicates an asbestos product. Paint is applied with air pumps.
The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky), 14 January 1902.
1908
The Manchester Iowa depot is painted in "two shades of green, the company's trademark color."
Water tanks are painted green.
Manchester Democrat (Manchester, Iowa), 21 October 1908.
1914
The Illinois Central adopts a paint recycling program; paint "skins" and dried slop is collected, ground, and mixed with boiling oil. This process saves the company $177 per month.