Coaches 70 and 75 Head to the Paint Shop in C&Sn3

[Jim Courtney]

I seem to have gone off the C&S passenger car cliff.

I'm beginning the painting process for the RPO/Coach 43 (interior is done) and have started building up a pair Bill Meredith's brass 6'0" Pullman trucks as a prelude to building his kit for C&S coach 62. I've owned three OMI Sn3 brass model of C&S coaches 70 and 74-76 for nearly 20 years, and feel that it is time to get her painted to join the 1909 consist.

So before I begin, some seemingly trivial (stupid?) questions:

Can any of you that were involved in the restorations of Combine 20 at Central City, or Coach 70 at I.S. or Coach 76 at Silver Plume tell me the color of the pull down window shades in theses cars. Was there a C&S standard, or did they vary? Seems to me that the choices are either a green or a beige. If green, was it the same color as the exterior green, or a lighter shade. Any info would be appreciated.

I know that the interior woodwork of the AC&F coaches (74-76) were a finished light oak. Were the interiors of the St. Charles coaches (i.e. number 70) the same or were they a darker wood finish? I never climbed up on coach 70's platform and peered inside . . . he says pitifully, hoping for some color interior photos.

Meanwhile, watch this space. I'm having a little difficulty as to obtaining the paint colors that I want, but I really am going to get her painted!

[Ken Martin]

Jim,

Here are pics I took of the interiors, 70 was after moving it and 76 was before restoration.

Coach 70


Coach 76

[Mike Trent]

Jim, I use a green color slightly lighter than the dark green body color. I remember seeing a color picture years ago that showed them green. My body color is Testors "Dark Green". The shades and trucks are Rustoleum Camoflauge  "Deep Forest Green". I found the camoflauge colors yesterday at our local Ace Hardware. Good luck finding Testors paint.

[Todd Hackett]

These were taken inside 70 in April 1982 - probably the same day Mike took his photos. Unfortunately, I was shooting B&W that day, but you can see the pattern in the shades.

[Jim Courtney]

Ken, Mike and Todd,

Thanks for the info and photos.

So it looks as if the St. Charles coaches (70-73) had a darker interior wood finish, more of a medium brown, as opposed to the finished oak in AC&F cars (74-76).

Mike is right about finding paints. When Testors acquired the Floquil, Polyscale and Model Master paint lines, they subsequently dropped all three paint lines. Don't know if that was before or after Testors was acquired by Rustolium.

Mike said in a prior post that he used Model Master "Afrika Mustard" for the interior of his coaches to resemble finished oak. I've yet to find that color available, as well as Model Master "Dark Green". I have a line on a possible new source for those colors in an enamel, placed an order, will report back when they arrive.

Change of plans (hence the change in thread title).

I was studying this favorite mid-1920s photo of the Leadville passenger at Dillon:




Under enlargement, I was able to count the clerestory windows on the 2 door express car, 13 by my count, identifying it as C&S number 1. I then noticed that the following coach had 6 paired roof vents, arranged perpendicular to the roof center line, identifying it as a St. Charles coach. The roof overhang over the platforms doesn't seem to droop down as on all the other coaches 71-76. So, I think this is coach number 70, paired with number 1.

I don't recall ever seeing a photo of coach 70 in actual use in a C&S train, only preservation photos at Idaho Springs.

So, my OMI coach 70 is being reassigned to my 1924 consist. One of my OMI coach 74-76 models will be painted and lettered for my 1909 consist instead.