ATSF stock cars color

[lucakiki]

Here is my problem. My U.S. layout is still just a project, but I already decided it is going to be Santa Fe. I have bought a bunch of stock (cattle)cars on ebay, Minitrix and Atlas. They are all green. I have just acquired a book on Santa Fe rolling stock,and none of the cattle cars depicted is green.
Have I acquired a bunch of uncorrectly colored cars?

 

[umtrr-author]

Yes, there are no known ATSF stock cars in green. They should all be brown, or perhaps "mineral red" is the more correct name for the color.

No one is quite sure where the model Santa Fe stock cars in green started-- some say it was Lionel who did this first-- but many other manufacturers have done green Santa Fe stock cars also. The list in N Scale doesn't end with the ones you named.

 

[jbaakko]

I think it was actually Tuscan.

 

[Cannonball]

What you probably have are some Burlington Northern stockcars that got labeled ATSF instead of BNSF. After the BN/SF merger, they never bothered to cover up the BN or The Santa Fe logos on a lot of equipment. They just added BNSF below them.

Call it a prototypically bad paintjob and let 'em roll.

 

[lucakiki]

What you probably have are some Burlington Northern stockcars that got labeled ATSF instead of BNSF. After the BN/SF merger, they never bothered to cover up the BN or The Santa Fe logos on a lot of equipment. They just added BNSF below them.

Call it a prototypically bad paintjob and let 'em roll.

Would that mean that Burlington stockcars were green, pre merger?
I know Gondolas were red,unless also the few Burlington gondolas I have are "wrong"...
If the prototypical cars are mineral red, than any stockcar is a good candidate for a repaint and lettering in the correct stile.
Too bad I insisted in purchasing that many green uncorrect cars...

 

[railohio]

Would that mean that Burlington stockcars were green, pre merger?
I know Gondolas were red,unless also the few Burlington gondolas I have are "wrong"...
If the prototypical cars are mineral red, than any stockcar is a good candidate for a repaint and lettering in the correct stile.
Too bad I insisted in purchasing that many green uncorrect cars...

What is means is that his joke was lost in translation.

There are a number of books by a variety of publishers that cover rolling stock, especially in the era you are interested in. You shouldn't have any trouble finding the right information.

 

[lucakiki]

Ok, I try again, in my faulty English.
Rolling stock is, well, rolling stock.
Cars used to transport livestock are called stock cars or cattle cars, or both?
Obviously, asking about green stock cars in ATSF rolling stock might have sounded confusing, so I opted to ask about cattle cars.
I do have a book about Santa Fe Freight and passenger equipment, and none of the stock cars /cattle cars /whatever is green.
Without said book, I would not have even suspected of the uncorrect greencolor.
Now, in N scale, at least two manufacturers, whose products I purchased, and other manufacturers that I am aware of, but whose products I did not bother to buy, made the same mistake, and followed Lionel's goofing.
It is obviously my layout, and I know I could run whatever color pleases me, but I happen to prefer to have my equipment in prototypical livery.
So, I have to repaint any cattle car ( be it green or whatever color it comes in) in the correct ATSF color.
One solution would be to mark as ATSF the pre merger Burlington cars, but were they actually green? A yes or no kind of answer would be the helpful one.

 

[railohio]

Ok, I try again, in my faulty English.

You didn't say or do anything wrong the first time.

Rolling stock is, well, rolling stock.
Cars used to transport livestock are called stock cars or cattle cars, or both? Obviously, asking about green stock cars in ATSF rolling stock might have sounded confusing, so I opted to ask about cattle cars.

Both terms could be used.

I do have a book about Santa Fe Freight and passenger equipment, and none of the stock cars /cattle cars /whatever is green.
Without said book, I would not have even suspected of the uncorrect greencolor.

Very good. This is a lesson for everybody! Buy a book and do your research!

Now, in N scale, at least two manufacturers, whose products I purchased, and other manufacturers that I am aware of, but whose products I did not bother to buy, made the same mistake, and followed Lionel's goofing.
It is obviously my layout, and I know I could run whatever color pleases me, but I happen to prefer to have my equipment in prototypical livery.
So, I have to repaint any cattle car ( be it green or whatever color it comes in) in the correct ATSF color.

I wouldn't call the paint error a mistake so much as a misrepresentation. Model manufacturers are in business to sell products and make money. Sometimes they (correctly) believe that an incorrect model will sell more than one that is faithful to the prototype. There are many, many models that have been produced without a prototype but still sell well to the casual buyers. Only prototype modelers seem to care anything about the prototype (Novel idea, right?) and they are still a portion of the whole model railroad market.

As you noted, you don't have to repaint it unless it bothers you to run an incorrect model. I know it would really bother me, though.

One solution would be to mark as ATSF the pre merger Burlington cars, but were they actually green? A yes or no kind of answer would be the helpful one.

No.

That was simply an ill-timed joke inserted into the thread. (Or total misinformation on behalf of the other poster.) Either way, if you are concerned with prototypical accuracy (Good for you!) then you should pick up a Burlington freight car book if you choose to go that route with repainting. The easiest solution at hand here seems to be repainting what you have into a correct model or trading it to someone else for what you do want.

 

[lucakiki]

OK. I guess that is what I will do: repaint them! Might save some in green as original mint 6 boxed collector items, but will paint the others. Over!

 

[Cannonball]

Would that mean that Burlington stockcars were green, pre merger?
I know Gondolas were red,unless also the few Burlington gondolas I have are "wrong"...

Your thinking Burlington Route, I think.... CB&Q. That was Burlington Northern's daddy. Burlington Northern was primarily green or brown. Engines were green & white with some black trim.

 

[umtrr-author]

Most of the roster of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (Burlington Route) stock cars was painted either brown or red. However, there is a photo of CB&Q 53061 painted in green with white lettering as of April 1974 (after the BN merger) in the CB&Q Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment (page 75).

The July 1974 Official Railway Equipment Register, which shows the active rosters of all equipment used (other than in company service) shows no stock cars lettered for the Burlington Northern. There are still some stock cars lettered for the CB&Q in the Burlington Northern listing.

My sense is that the BN never repainted any of the stock cars from its predecessor roads (CB&Q, Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Spokane, Portland and Seattle).