Green water tower

Both the CPR and the CNR painted their wooden water tanks, and I'm sure that there were many others. There are coloured photos in Ian Wilson's books on CNR branchlines in Southern Ontario that show the tanks, at least in the mid-'50s, as being boxcar red. This was actually what convinced me to do the same with the Atlas tanks on my layout.
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Wayne
 
I suppose one could paint them any color. And my guess is wooden water towers would be painted for protection. My guess is railroads would paint them with a cheap but durable color - probably the same color they painted their freight cars. All colors were available throughout the steam era - but the durability and cost of early paints varied by color.

I don't see any reason why they could not be green, if that was the railroad's preference. Certainly other buildings were painted green. The problem is, prior to color photography, it is difficult to know what color a particular railroad used. Oral descriptions can be pretty vague!

Kevin
 
According to your link, the water tower is modeled after the prototype on the Pennsy in Madison, Indiana. It could be that the Pennsy painted their tanks green or it could be that they painted that one tank green. If you are modeling from a prototype, you need to find out what color they painted their water tanks. If you are free lancing, then you can decide what the standard color for your railroad's water tanks will be. The structure supporting the water tanks was probably treated with creosote on most railroads, but all of the tanks themselves would have been painted some color to protect the tank from the elements.
 
I love this picture of Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad water tower.

The originality of such water tower are the specific weathering marks like rust or wet planks where the water drops outside to bottom. This is that what such a water tower makes to a very unique thing amoung all others and here you see also the railroad specific color, yollow or more cremy.

Who says that a water tower can not be a colorfull one?
 
Like Bernard's link shows...I recall the D&RGW tanks being yellow. My DSP&P and the EBT painted them tuscan red. I'm pretty sure that I have seen a prototype of green tower...but not the shade of green that Atlas molded into there's!

A few days ago I painted all the parts from one of those kits black. I'll later be painting them tuscan red. I will be helping a 12 year old build this kit...his first kit...and I'll be teaching him to simulate peeling paint by sanding a little of the tuscan red off to reveal the black underneath...something I've seen on a number of water towers. I'll then teach him to assemble it, weather it, and set it up on his layout.
 
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