Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Paint Information
Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index
Passenger Cars
1874
Passenger cars are painted a "very light color."
Daily State Gazette (Trenton, NJ), 28 April 1874.
1876
Passenger and baggage cars painted in "light colors."
Daily Record of the Times (Wilkes-Barre, PA), 20 April 1876.
1890
Parlor cars are painted the "standard color" dark green
Baggage cars are painted dark green with gilt scroll work.
National Car and Locomotive Builder, September 1890 p129.
1900
Passenger cars are painted dark olive green.
Wilkes-Barre Weekly Times (Wilkes-Barre, PA), 24 February 1900.
Freight Cars
1925
Cabooses are painted yellow; the color is called DL&W Standard Caboose Yellow Paint, in Paste form.
"42.88 Yellow, cream and straw pigments," National Directory of Commodity Specifications, Department of Commerce Bureau of Standards: 1925
Photographs of new DL&W cabooses built by Magor Car Corporation printed in Railway Age 1 January 1927 and Railway Review 2 January 1926 depict the yellow paint scheme.
1935
DL&W's Buffalo and Scranton shops begin repainting cabooses to Brilliant Red, changing from yellow. The Ithaca Journal notes that cabooses have been yellow for over thirty years.
Ithaca Journal 19 December 1934
1955
Cars built for the DL&W by Magor are painted with Sherwin Williams Kem Kold Bild synthetic gloss enamel.
"Once Over with Kem Kold Bild Does the Job of Two Standard Coats!" Railway Age 15 August 1955 p49.