Colors of the Catskill Railroads

Above: a colorized black-and-white photo of a Catskill Mountain Railway coach, based upon research
of how the car may have appeared when new in 1893.

Colors of the Catskill Railroads: A Living Document

Color is highly relevant to human beings' perception of things. Often, it's one of the first things we notice about an object. Color research sometimes takes a back seat in railroad preservation, yet I would argue that this aspect is just as relevant to how railroads were seen and engaged with by the average people of the day as a year-by-year corporate history.

This page seeks to record and make accessible to the public primary source documentation about the paint colors used on equipment and buildings by the historic railroads of the Catskills during the 1860s-1920s period. Sources are period written accounts and contemporary paint research.

Equipment and Rolling Stock

Catskill Mountain Railway

2 June, 1882 - "Four large, strong and handsome baggage cars for the Catskill Mountain R.R. arrived Saturday, and are landed on the wharf at The Point... They are beautifully finished, painted in olive green and decorated in gilt." The Catskill Recorder, NYS Historic Newspapers

9 June, 1882 - "Four passenger cars, Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12, of the excursion pattern**, open sides, with curtains for sun or rain, arrived on Friday. They are painted olive green, gilt decoration and lettered Catskill Mountain RR." The Catskill Recorder, NYS Historic Newspapers

**Note, one of these cars survives today in service on the Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, Michigan. Before it ended its Catskill career it was converted by the Catskill Mt. shops into an enclosed coach.

7 July, 1882 - "The four enclosed passenger cars, the last of the lot, for the Catskill Mountain RR. arrived on the 28th ult., and are unloaded at The Point. They are very handsome, painted green, gilt striping, upholstered in red plush, interiors oiled oak and chestnut. The ceiling decorations are Eastlake patterns, very handsome; lamps and hangings in brass." The Catskill Recorder, NYS Historic Newspapers

8 July, 1882, same four cars as above * note the disagreement in wood material - "The interior of the cars are finished in ash; the ceilings are decorated very handsomely in conventional style. The seats are iron-framed, nickel-plated arms and top, upholstered in crimson plush; the backs are covered with dark green plush, figured. - The exterior is dark green with gold decoration, outlined with vermillion. They have every convenience and are fitted with the Eames vacuum brake and Janney coupling." The Catskill Examiner, Vedder Research Library, Greene County Historical Society

At some point the livery of the Catskill Mountain Railway passenger equipment was changed to a different hue... "...polished brasswork and clean, wine-colored passenger coaches were the hallmarks of Catskill Mountain..." Railroad Magazine, February 1949, Volume 48, Issue 1, p. 88-95

Catskill & Tannersville Railway

May, 1901 - C&T locomotive No. 2 was delivered by Baldwin painted black, no striping, with lemon yellow lettering and a planished iron boiler jacket. (Baldwin Locomotive Works Records, Southern Methodist University DeGolyer Library)

April, 1908 - C&T locomotive No. 1 was delivered by Baldwin painted black, no striping, with aluminum paint lettering and a planished iron boiler jacket. (Baldwin Locomotive Works Records, Southern Methodist University DeGolyer Library)

Otis Elevating Railway

15 July, 1892 - "The seats, which are stationary, are made of chestnut slats, have curved backs, and are stoutly braced... The ceilings are (illegible) and the outside of the cars wine color, lettered in gold with a red shading." The Catskill Recorder, NYS Historic Newspapers, article describing the brand new Otis yet to open to the public

Rondout & Oswego Railroad

A Jackson & Sharp builders photo, 1871, shows an R&O baggage car in a light color, possibly "straw" or some shade of buff. Common Jackson & Sharp practice was to have the car body, trucks, and platforms in three separate but complementary colors. Delaware Public Archives

The Howard & Morse headlights used on some R&O motive power are noted as being black from the factory, with fancy striping and scrollwork. Headlights in the era were an aftermarket item and were not necessarily painted the same color as the rest of the locomotive.

Ulster & Delaware Railroad

A side sill timber from U&D No. 333, a wood-frame flatcar built prior to 1900, was repurposed as a vertical frame member in the U&D's Roxbury, NY station. The timber still retains lettering from its time as a flatcar sill, indicating white lettering and a base color of reddish brown.

Many of the locomotives the U&D purchased new in the 1890s were built by the Brooks Locomotive Works, and at this time the Brooks factory was using a livery copied from the Pennsylvania Railroad. Dark green or black was the ground color, with a standard pinstriping layout in contrasting gold and white, and two bands of Tuscan red framing the tender. This paint scheme, including the Tuscan bands, can be seen on my model of Hillendale #9, and is evident in builder's photos of U&D locomotives - the only question is whether they were green or black.

After 1900 it is likely U&D locomotives were painted black, though they retained planished iron boiler jackets. The color of the lettering is unknown, though I have seen it depicted as white in models and paintings.

Structures & Buildings

To be constructed...

The Haines Falls Station of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, built in 1913, is restored to what is believed to be its original appearance of forest green with trim in sage green and cream. Mountain Top Historical Society.

Research points to Ulster & Delaware mainline stations in the 1900-1910 period as being painted olive green with trim in dark and light red.
Research by Doug Kadow.

Drawing by Doug Kadow. Typical U&DRR station paint circa 1900.

Additional Historic Paint Resources:

PacificNG Historic Railroad Paint Color Index

https://utahrails.net/pdf/UPRRHS_CS-22-Book.pdf

Presumably at least the Ulster & Delaware had something similar to the Union Pacific Railroad painting guide seen above. It is unlikely the smaller Catskill railroads, which rostered only a handful of locomotives, did. Alas, if anything ever existed it is not known to survive.