Understanding Classic Boxcar Red Weathering

Over the last few years, I've been experimenting with boxcar red weathering. Understanding that ubiquitous railway color is central to most modellers' work and can be useful. When we think of adding weathering, the first step we learn is to add some grime and darken the model. While true, this is now the entire story and I've written quite extensively on that subject.

In the last few months, I've been sampling colors from pictures and creating color swatches to get a better grasp of what colors I should use as base paints. Except if you model a car that has been freshly painted less than a year, you can be sure that your models will display some level of discoloration. Let's look at what a bunch of CNR boxcars shot in 1955 in Armstrong, ON can tell us. This picture was published in Robert Wanner's book "Across the Canadian Shield".

In the picture, the steel boxcar is extremely weathered. While we can't figure out the roadnumber, this car is a 10'-0" high boxcar with a flat or Murphy raised panel roof. The paint scheme is barely visible and completely faded. There are no trace of green paint on the maple leaf, which indicates this is most likely a car that was painted before the white leaf paint scheme was discontinued in 1944. At the time of our picture, the car hasn't been repainted for at least 12 years. It must be noted that it was common for white paint to disappear on CN boxcars of the era while the green paint stuck for longer though it faded badly. This would be the equivalent of the ghost lettering on modern Railbox cars.

Let's look at the colors. On the roof, it is clear most paint has flaked from the galvanized steel panels. Paint back then didn't stick well to zinc applied on steel and would disappear almost completely after a decade. Note that the steel color isn't shiny, but rather a flat grey. Sometimes, you can perceive a few hints of blue depending on the galvanization. In this case, it is a very neutral gray.

The car sides are brown, but a rather freshly color. The red brown has turned into a warm and light leather color with some variations in darkness where grime accumulate. Miniature figure painters will recognize these dark flesh colors that are offered by paint manufacturers serving that hobby. Why bother starting with real red oxyde when you can just skip the fading process and paint with a faded color?

The very grimy parts near the door are interesting because it has a grey hue. It's kind of pinkish, but rather dark.

The ghost lettering is almost the same color as the car body, but a little bit lighter. To replicate such an effect, one could paint the model with the dark flesh color, apply and seal the decals, they airbrush a filter made of the same color to blend everything together. That would make for a very cool effect which I'm kind of interested to replicate.

Finally, the Fowler boxcar on the right is also very interesting. We find the same leather/dark flesh color on the sides, however, the roof is dirty pink with a lot of white in it. Was the roof repainted with a different red oxyde paint that weathers pink? Maybe... or the UV rays attack roof paint in a more violent way that car sides due to the angle of exposition. I would go with that later explanation since I've often observed on old pictures that roofs are often very pinkish compared to the sides.

With all that said and done, it's clear the debate on boxcar red is basically irrelevant if you base your work on the observable world around you. Look at leather and flesh colors and add them to your arsenal. They will be extremely useful to filter, modulate and fade your base colors... and may even replace them altogether!