Have seen photos posted on the net of the ATSF roundhouses at San Bernardino and Bakersfield that had the exterior walls painted a dark color. Does anyone have any idea what the color was? Thanks, Robert
It would take me quite a while to look through all my catalogue of published photos of San Bernadino to look for pix that show roundhouse all colors. SAN BERNADINO CAL foot of Cajon Pass, jct 2 routes to LA track map & profile Warbonnet 3Q97 p.14 this station and others on "Redlands Loop" shown on 30-mile wide coverage track map Warbonnet 4Q99 p.20 color double-spage spread from Mt.Vernon viaduct looking east 1951 Warbonnet 3Q02 p.20-21 depot, clear pix, _Reefers, Ice Bunker_ p.244 depot, 1905, _Reefers, Ice Bunker_ p.54 Depot 1976 online at http://shastaroute.railfan.net/ATSF.html misty depot in distance 1951 Warbonnet 2Q99 p.2 Spanish depot, scratchbuilding in foamcore Model Railroad July08. p.48 platform scene, 1946, Warbonnet 3Q95 p. pix, _SF Steamliners: the Chiefs and their Tribesmen_ p.65 depot behind "Grand Canyon", color Warbonnet 4Q02 p.39 "Citrus Belt Special" for National Orange Show March 11, 1967 on platform track in front of depot Warbonnet 4Q99 p.18 pix in Amtrak era, _Pass.Train Annual #3_ p.32 hi-angle telephoto down platforms, 1990s _Pacific Rail News_, Nov.95 p.46 San Bernadino depot Prize model, Warbonnet 3Q-2010 p.45 hi angle A yard color 1949 Warbonnet 4Q 03 p.22 El Capitan at San Bernadino hi-angle down train 1961 Warbonnet 1Q02 p.6 depot, copy of tinted postcard _Trains_ June99 p.76 depot w Metrolink trains 1998 _Trains_ June99 p.64 HO model pix, _PSR Convention Sept 85_ convention cover N model pix, _Model RRing_ Apr87 p.47 depot Prize model Warbonnet 3Q-2011 p.45 2 photos, _Trains_ Sept74 p.22 scenes, _Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail_ p.97,105,108,110,111,120,125,129,275,276,277,282,283, 285,316,412,438 steam-diesel transition scene, _Santa Fe Modeler_ SepOct83 p.18 yard, late 1930s, _Reefers, Ice Bunker_ p.78,174 yard, high shot late 1940s _Santa Fe Boxcars 1869-1953_ p.74 roundhouse ca.1915, _Reefers, Ice Bunker_ p.64,65 roundhouse & turntable _Mod RRer_ Oct89 p.96 turntable San Berdoo Warbonnet 3Q 06 p.12 New FP45s outside shop 1967 Warbonnet 1Q-2012 p.1 intermodal facility, _Santa Fe Modeler_ 1Q92 p.14 track plat, precooler yard B, _Santa Fe Modeler_ 4Q88 p.20 precooler interior _Reefers, Ice Bunker_ p.15,18,81 icing platform _Refrigerator Cars, Ice Bunker 1884-1979_ p.19 scenes, Warbonnet 2Q96 p.28,29,30 scenes in bg of eqpt. shots _Work Eqpt.Cars_ p.125 steam loco displayed _Trains_ Sept74 p.22 platform tracks _Trains_ Sept74 p.23 town,roads, rail lines shown re Cajon Pass _Trains_ Sept74 p.25 yard A track map. Warbonnet 3Q98 p.14 5th Street Tower. 3-story interlocking tower. scale drawings Warbonnet 3Q98 p.16. model p.1, 13 5th Street Tower, 2 pix 1961, note multiple gates apparently to protect yard from trespassers Warbonnet 4Q99 p.2 sandhouse in bg 1967 _SF Trackside w/ Bill Gibson_, p.83 __ photos/ scale drawings/ model pix Warbonnet 3Q98 p.13-16 yard scene early 1950s, medium high angle with dozens of cars showing p.21 Warbonnet 1Q 2000
Model Railroader November 1989 p.102-107 has an article on scratchbuilding the Bakersfield roundhouse in styrene, with color photos. The photos look like the walls are painted with an aluminum paint with black paint under the aluminum and showing through. The color and finish an texture of the walls reminds me of a metal building my family owned. Itinerant workers knocked on the door and said they had some protective paint left over from another job and could paint our building cheap. The paint had some kind of thick black tarry base with a little aluminum pigment apparently diluted down with a light volatile solvent. All put down in one coat. The thin aluminum just floated to the top surface. When it got old, the black tarry base expanded and shrunk, the aluminum wore and cracked and the black showed through. That's what the color photos of Bakersfield roundhouse, taken 1979 and 1986 looked like. Or could they have been painted black at some early period (so smoke stains wouldn't show?) and then later painted over with aluminum as a heat reflector?
The ATSF roundhouses at Sweetwater and Amarillo Texas were cast concrete (but wood framed) and both were painted a red brick color. Here is a photo that I took of the Amarillo RH while working on the old Slaton Division in the 70's. Part of it had been stuccoed over, but the painted area remained. Just guessing that with the oily smoke from ATSF steamers, that bare concrete would have made the walls a steaked mess. Dark red (mineral red/brown?) would have given the building more of a brick appearance, and the exhaust residue would not have shown as bad.
