Is there a standard brown for PRR cabeese?

[OldEastRR]

This would be of the circle keystone logo era. Looking at online pix of real and model cabeese shows a wide range of brown shades. Seems like anything "medium dark" brown works. Looks like every model company has their own color brown. I've noticed their wide variety of shades on PRR boxcars, too.

[eja]

The PRRT&HS used to sell "drift cards" of various PRR paint colours.

I am no longer a member, but I suspect the Technical and Historical Society probably still has some around. They may be able answer your question.

[bbussey]

Circle keystone scheme should be iron red oxide. They weathered to various shades and hues.

[pjm20]

Search paint on the various PRR .io groups and you should get a decent formula by decade for different paint brands.

[Albert in N]

Noticed this topic was moved here from N section.  Anyway, here is a MTL N Pennsy caboose, possibly from the wrong era, photo.  With railroad paint fade, color matches vary.  In younger days, I used to try to match the MKT (Katy) red dip color to prototype photos I took of the real thing.  Somewhere I read that the MKT shops used spray cans of Chevrolet engine block red to touch up scuffs.  Thus I matched Floquil reds as best I could to that color. 

[peteski]

IMO, trying to find an accurate color for any railroad equipment is an exercise in futility.  Especially for a car that existed over 70 years ago.  There are so many factors which can affect the color.  Starting with color photograph not  providing accurate color info (due to fading, lighting conditions when it was taken, film type, etc.)  Then there is paint fading and weathering (dirt).

Sure, you might be able to match some specific color chip from that period, but unless you are modeling fresh-out-of-paint-shop car, that color chip will not be accurate.  And even if you use that color chip for reference, the RTR models will likely not match that color either.  But I guess that would be acceptable, due to the factors I mentioned earlier.  Variations are acceptable.

[dougnelson]

PRR freight car color varied by era as paint pigments evolved. 1930s-40s was more orangey oxide. Mid 1950s-60s migrated to more brownish tones. PRRT&HS has developed paint samples for various eras. They are “working” on a way to make the information available to everyone. They do provide paint info to manufacturers that work with them. BLI and Rapido are using accurate PRR colors.

[reinhardtjh]

This would be of the circle keystone logo era. Looking at online pix of real and model cabeese shows a wide range of brown shades. Seems like anything "medium dark" brown works. Looks like every model company has their own color brown. I've noticed their wide variety of shades on PRR boxcars, too.

I was hoping someone with more knowledge than I would pipe up, but... 

The Pennsy painted their boxcars (mostly) and cabin ( NOT caboose/cabeese/cabooses  ) cars what they called Freight Car Color (FCC).  FCC varied over the years.  The earlier you go, the more orange it appeared, except before 1920 it was apparently red (Ask @Ed Kapuscinski ).  FCC from the 1920's was quite orange before it weathered and faded.  FCC of the 1930's was a little less orange, but still pretty orange.  In the 40's FCC became a little more brownish red-orange and from the 50's on was usually a reddish-brown oxide color like Bryan mentions..

The Circle Keystone (CK) era started around 1930 and lasted until the event of the Shadow Keystone (SK) in April of 1954.  So, depending on the last paint date for your cabin car, the shade of FCC could vary quite a bit and that doesn't include the fading and weathering effects.  If you can, your best bet is to find a picture of a cabin car taken about the time you want to model and blend your paint according to that to factor in the weathering and fading.


Jerry Briton has a good page for some info: https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/115-steel-cabin-car-painting-lettering

There was also a recent discussion on the PRRHTS modeling Group IO mail list.
Here's an older one:  https://prr.groups.io/g/PRR/topic/pre_1920_prr_cabin_car_color/78346403
Hopefully you can see it without joining.

Edit: Ah, Doug posted while I was writing and researching