Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago & St Louis (Big Four) Paint Information

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index / Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago & St. Louis (Big Four) TOC

Freight Cars

1891

Big Four’s first scale test car was painted yellow.

The Salt Lake Times (Salt Lake City Utah), 26 August 1891

1894

Big Four freight cars begin to be painted metallic brown, with the road’s emblem painted on the car sides in “the Vanderbilt’s color, a deep orange.”

The Evening Bulletin (Maysville, KY), 15 February 1894

1896

An observer notes the Big Four’s freight cars being painted red, with “a maltese cross on the side of old gold, in the center of which is a black circle with a large figure 4 in gold, and the name of the railroad around the figure.”

The Daily Morning Journal and Courier, 15 December 1896

Cleveland Oil and Paint Mfg. Co. ca.1890

Passenger Cars

1889 to 1903

Big Four passenger cars painted cadmium yellow.

1900

A Detroit White Lead Company catalog distributed at the Master Car Painters' meeting in Detroit includes paint samples for Rogers' Coach Body Enamels, which includes "Big Four Color," a rich orange color.

1901

Day and Parlor cars built by Barney & Smith are painted bright orange with a crimson letterboard. All lettering and trim is in gold leaf. Vestibule doors are polished mahogany.

Pullman Company Scrapbooks Vol. 7: 1901, p40.

1903

Big Four dining cars painted “the color of Pullman sleepers and the Lake Shore rolling stock.”

The Elkhart Truth (Elkhart, IN), 1 August 1903

1904

Big Four passenger coaches begin to be painted an “extremely dark green.”

The Elkhart Truth (Elkhart, IN), 20 December 1904

Buildings

1895

The Park Street bridge in Cincinnati is painted with Dixon's Silica-Graphite paint. In 1900 it was reported to have "withstood the action of engine fumes for five years."

"Notices of Publications," Railway Master Mechanic Vol.24, 1900, pg. 633.

Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index / Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago & St. Louis (Big Four)