M1 RPO Black Doors?

[NW Mailing List]

Howard,

     I think you may have meant Wabash blue RPO's and dome cars, the 
Nickel Plate head end cars were all Pullman green, the coaches the same 
except for the stainless steel with blue number board coaches/sleepers.

WJPowers


On 12/13/2017 1:55 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>
> *My Dad was a mail clerk on N&W RPO”s for thirty plus years. From the 
> early fifties to the demise of mail on trains in the seventies, we 
> often met the trains 3 and 4 or 15 and 16 in both Portsmouth, Ohio and 
> Bluefield to help with the materials he had to carry as the crew 
> foreman. *
>
> **
>
> *The doors were Tuscan or N&W red that matched the rest of the car. 
> Look at the RPO car in the rail museum in Roanoke for correct colors. 
> I do not recall any black N&W RPO car doors. I do remember the old 
> Nickel Plate Blue cars and the dome car that were used after that 
> merger. Do not remember seeing any blue RPO’s on those trains.*
>
> **
>
> *Dad often said they could tell the which engineer was on duty as they 
> went from Cincinnati to Bluefield and returnthrough the various 
> Divisions and RR crews. He once said they had ridden over a million 
> miles behind the 600 engines. One time we went to Northfork, WV, to 
> watch the RPO grab a mail pouch with the car hook. What a lost art. *
>
> **
>
> *This is another piece of our history we need save and part of the 
> reason model railroading is so interesting. *
>
> **
>
> *Howard Leedy*
>
> *Bluefield, WV*
>
> *From:*NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] *On 
> Behalf Of *NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 13, 2017 11:07 AM
> *To:* NW Mailing List
> *Cc:* NW Mailing List
> *Subject:* Re: M1 RPO Black Doors?
>
> My experience with Micro-Trains (and many other mfgrs like Division 
> Point) is their stuff can be subject to question due to errors they 
> have made.
>
> I can understand where Evan may think the doors of some cars were 
> black. I don't have any photos of M-1 RPO's with black doors but I do 
> have some B&W's of BMH #16 and BMg #11 that "could be" black doors. 
> They certainly are blacker than the remainder of the car. The rub 
> plates next to and below the doors seem to be about the same shading 
> and if they are black as per normal practice then it is possible these 
> cars have black doors. For contrast here's a shot of #96 with red 
> doors and the black areas.
>
> The shot of BMF #1203 shows something else of interest. The black wear 
> areas higher up on the body next to the mail catcher used to prevent 
> or minimize damage to the thinner body sheet metal from the force of 
> mail bags striking when picked up on the fly. Like the lower scuff 
> plate, these were made of a much thicker metal to limit damage to the 
> car proper.
>
> Disclaimer: I understand B&W but the distinct difference between the 
> body color and this "trim" color can't really be ignored. The same can 
> be said of the color shots and movies where the doors on cars seem to 
> be a different shade than the body color. No matter how much one 
> claims "color shift" and "retinal differences" the obvious difference 
> in the red colors between body and doors is there.
>
> Roger Huber
>
> Deer Creek Locomotive Works
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:*NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
> <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>>
> *To:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
> <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 13, 2017 5:47 AM
> *Subject:* Re: M1 RPO Black Doors?
>
> The M1's did not have black doors at any time (nor did any other N&W 
> passenger cars). They did, however have black facings on either side 
> of the doors and a black plate at the bottom. When N&W went from red 
> to blue (1966) they stopped painting these areas black. There is some 
> evidence that they may have stopped painting the facings black before 
> that, but I don't have any timeline on that.
>
> Jim Nichols
>
> On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 5:49 PM, NW Mailing List via 
> NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
> <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone, Micro-Trains recently released their model of a M1 RPO 
> with black doors.  I'm wondering how long did the M1's retain their 
> as-delivered black doors and did any make it to retirement with them?
>
> -Evan Miller
>
>
>
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