Great Western Railway of Canada Paint Information

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index / Great Western Railway of Canada TOC

Freight Cars

1872

GWR oil tank cars were painted brown ochre, with the tank painted white lead.

1872 Great Western Railway of Canada oil tank car specifications, Library Archives of Canada

1873

GWR 33-foot boxcars were painted brown ochre, with lettering painted white shaded with black.

GWR stock cars were painted brown ochre, with lettering painted white shaded with black.

GWR double-decked stock cars were painted brown ochre, with lettering painted white shaded with black. Cast iron letters and numbers, painted white, were placed on the “south side” of the car.

GWR platform coal cars were painted brown ochre, with lettering painted white shaded with black. Cast iron letters and numbers, painted white, were placed on the “south side” of the car.

GWR “Michigan Line” boxcars were painted brown ochre, with lettering painted white shaded with black.

1873 Great Western Railway of Canada freight car specifications, Library Archives of Canada

Passenger Cars

1860

GWR car built for the use of the Prince of Wales interior painted white, trimmed with gold leaf, and all iron work bronzed except the handrails, which are silver-plated. Trucks painted a “very dark crimson” and trimmed with gold leaf. The Royal Arms with the Prince’s crest painted in the ovals on the car sides.

The Cass County Republican (Dowagiac, MI), 13 September 1860

1867

GWR Pullman “Hotel Car” painted a “rich lake crimson,” ornamented in gold. The oval panels on the car sides featured copies in bronze of Thorwaldsen’s figures of Sight and Hearing.

Railway News via Rambles on Railways. With maps, diagrams, and appendices, 1868, pg. 303

1868

GWR passenger car painted dark brown, with “native Canadian ochre.”

The Daily Telegraph (Toronto, ON), 23 September 1868

1870

GWR passenger cars painted Oxford ochre picked out with gold and blue.

The Sarnia Observer (Sarnia, ON), 30 December 1870

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index / Great Western Railway of Canada