Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[Chris333]

I figured it was just a base color. I'd make it looks faded and give it a light wash of silver and black

[Dave V]

I figured it was just a base color. I'd make it looks faded and give it a light wash of silver and black

Silver?   

[Chris333]

OK maybe grey ?

This looks just as much silver/grey as red to me

[Dave V]

Yeah, although I'm not sure how trustworthy those colors are in that picture, given the wonky sky color and the rock color.  In fact, I'm kinda wondering if this is a colorized B&W...

I could also stare at this long enough and convince myself it's a robin's egg green, which is what the Maroon Creek viaduct at Aspen is wearing now.

I wish I knew when this photo was taken.

Might be worth reaching out to a Midland expert for his opinion...

[Chris333]

wow when you look at it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_Creek_Bridge#mediaviewer/File:Old_Maroon_Creek_Bridge,_Aspen,_CO.jpg
the rusted spots look red, you can see green paint, but still a grey washed out look.

If you leave it straight red it will look like this:
http://www.trainweb.org/SunriseDivision/photos/6_Colorado_Midland_Bridge.jpg

Sounds like a job for @tom mann   

[Dave V]

...or this!



That's the recently-restored Florence & Cripple Creek narrow gauge bridge in Phantom Canyon, built about the same time the Midland built its bridges.

I'm modeling 1905, when the CMRy was still in relatively good shape and its facilities were roughly 17 years old.  Weathering on railroad structures would be minimal (other than untreated wood, like on the trestles...they'd be that mottled brown and gray we see around here).

[Chris333]

The more I look at the original photo (now that you pointed out the green one) I could also be talked into thinking it was green with lots of surface rust showing. Is that really the only color photo?

[Dave V]

The more I look at the original photo (now that you pointed out the green one) I could also be talked into thinking it was green with lots of surface rust showing. Is that really the only color photo?

Well, you saw further back the screenshot of the movie...  that was 1949.  The Ruxton Avenue bridge transferred over to the Midland Terminal Railway in 1919 when the CM went under.  The MT continued to use the old CM trackage from Divide to Colorado Springs until 1949, including the Ruxton Avenue bridge.  That leads me to believe there must be other color photos of it.  That said, by the time color photos were taken, not only was that bridge old and rusty, the color photos themselves were probably not reliable.

That said, rumor has it that the Hop Gulch bridge was left standing until 1940-ish when it was dismantled for a wartime scrap drive.  So...  It's not impossible that somewhere there exists a color photo of that one.  However, Hop Gulch is pretty remote.

Green would also be in keeping with the treatment of iron and steel in the 1880s...

[Chris333]

You can zoom in pretty good on this photo:
http://cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15981coll57/id/1682

Lets assume that the boxcar on the bridge is boxcar red. The bridge looks lighter, making me think green.

[wazzou]

I could also stare at this long enough and convince myself it's a robin's egg green...

That's certainly what I see.

[Dave V]

You can zoom in pretty good on this photo:
http://cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15981coll57/id/1682

Lets assume that the boxcar on the bridge is boxcar red. The bridge looks lighter, making me think green.

Almost looks like the bents are a different color than the deck.

But yeah, these bridges (including the Hop Gulch and Maroon Creek) all look light in color, possibly a light green.

Hmm...  Let's see what the guy I got the decals from says. 

Then again, there's this...



Just a painting for a book cover, but it's probably helped reinforce this perception that these steel bridges must be red.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I wouldn't sweat it. If, in your mind's eye, the bridge should be red, make it red.

It seems like red bridges are a CM trademark, and I think you'll be mad at yourself later if you didn't do it that way.

[basementcalling]

I agree with Ed. It's only paint, and that is made to be recoated every so often. Put a scaffold up with a couple figures on it, and have the bridge two colors even. Make it look like they are repainting it. Which color? Change the explanation direction so one day they are painting it green over red, and then reverse the explanation if you later find new details.

[Dave V]

Well, if nothing else, I'm fairly sure they weren't painted black!

EDIT:  Browsing my Abbott book and the Denver Public Library photo gallery, it looks like the Ruxton Avenue bridge was originally painted a uniform, darker color and the advertisement lettering appears to have been added later.  This might account for the non-uniform appearance in the later photos.  Perhaps the bridge was painted a uniform oxide/maroon color and then at a later date, a light bluish-greenish-gray was applied to the deck sides when the advertisement was added.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll21/id/6641/rec/15

I've already painted it oxide and it looks decent that way.  I'll leave it that way for now...

[Chris333]

In MR Sam Posey's layout had one steel bridge, painted silver... 


And either way your bridge isn't even curved and that foam no lookie like Pikes Peak.


Just weather it a bit.