Boston & Maine Paint Information

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index

Locomotives

1905

Train numbers mounted in front of the glass of headlights are painted bright vermillon.

"Discussion, Subject No. 8," Railway Master Mechanic October 1905 p383.

Freight Cars

1890

Box cars painted lead color, or slate, with mineral brown roofs, black ironwork, and yellow block letters. Flat cars and coal cars painted mineral brown.

Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 29 July 1890

"Lead Color" was given as being a mix of Keg Lead (white) and lampblack.

The carriage painters' illustrated manual, 1877

1897

All freight cars, except cabooses, refrigerator cars, and line cars, repainted mineral brown (a new shade, slightly darker than the color used previously) with white Roman lettering. Trucks and ironwork also painted mineral brown. Refrigerator cars, cabooses, and line cars continue to have ironwork painted black.

Railroad Car Journal, December 1897

As the result of a boxcar accidentally being lettered "Boston & Mitane," the railroad adopted a new outshopping stencil that identified which paint shop was last to paint each car, using the first three letters of the shop's name (Lawrence, Salem, or Somerville). Stencil was six inches across.

Railroad Car Journal June 1897

Passenger Equipment

1871

Passenger cars painted light straw yellow and "richly striped and ornamented"

The Boston Traveler (Boston, MA), 16 May 1871

1873

B&M Wagner parlor car painted wine and striped in gold leaf.

The Boston Globe (Boston, MA), 9 July 1873

1882

Parlor cars painted dark maroon.

The National Car Builder, August 1882, pg. 89

1884

Parlor cars painted lake with gold ornamentation.

The National Car Builder, July 1884, pg. 81

1885

Passenger car, "Magnolia," assigned to the Eastern Division, painted deep crimson.

The Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA), 22 May 1885

Baggage cars of the Eastern Division repainted from a yellow-brown to Tuscan red.

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 14 February 1885

1886

Two new parlor cars painted dark cherry with gold ornamentation.

The Boston Globe (Boston, MA), 3 June 1886

Passenger cars and baggage cars painted light straw yellow. Interiors finished in mahogany with black walnut trim.

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 7 September 1886

1890

Baggage cars repainted from Tuscan red to yellow.

The Beverly Citizen (Beverly, MA), 22 November 1890

The Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME), 29 November 1890

1891

Passenger cars assigned to the Eastern and Western divisions begin to be painted dark olive green with gold lettering. Passenger cars assigned to the Lowell division already dark olive green with gold lettering.