# V&T factory colours of Genoa, Reno, Inyo, Bowker ?



## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Dave:

Could you answer what are the original style and factory colours, as delivered by Baldwin to the V&T, of the Genoa, Reno, Inyo and Bowker?

From your previous reply, I can deduce only this information:


1) GENOA Style ?, base colour ? , Red colour wheels

2) RENO Style ?, base colour ? , Red colour wheels

3) INYO Style 1, Wine base colour, Wine colour wheels

4) BOWKER Style 1, Lake base colour, wheel colour ?


Thank you
Norman


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Oh boy, lots of trouble to sort here. 

Inyo is restored to an 1890s appearance, which also shows just how well the V&T treasured its locos and cars, even in repaints and new schemes she was kept stylish. This Brown is not Lake, its a much lighter Chocolate Brown, possibly based on the Central Pacific's Sacramento Shops paint styles (of which the V&T owned two locos and maintained variants on those styles through repaints). 

Inyo was indeed Wine Style 1 when built, which also means she had wine colour wheels, not red wheel when built. BUT, the Reno and Genoa that preceeded her were built right in the red wheel era prior to Style 1, and so they most probably had the red wheels. Therefore you can have both! Its probably something that the V&T liked and hence kept the red wheels for Pass engines later on, such as the 1890s colour scheme. 

Bowker is not Lake today either but a plain brown aimed to seal and preserve the engine till her days comes. Bowker is one of those dilemas, she's somewhat altered, 1890s cab etc, so going back to her Lake, Style 1 finish is probably not going to happen, but another 1890s restoration, but then there is the issue that she was sold to other roads during that time, so you cant really restore her as a V&T loco. I'm sure they'll resolve something. 

Empire was restored to Lake colour with red wheels- Vermillion (pre styles book, but not unlike Style 27 after 1874), and looks absolutely stunning. Lake however wasn't used at Baldwin till mid 1875, 2 years after Empire was built, but that wasn't the real reason for later research suggesting the Lake may not have been correct, it was actually paint scrapes from the loco itself that pointed to the Wine colour and the spec sheet itself calls for Wine colour. No point redoing her - its a lot of work, and in that display and lighting, changing her to wine would not actually change the visual all that much. She very much captures the Baldwin 1873 flavor as restored, even if the exact pigment may not be quite right. Thats that nature of this kind of research, new data comes down the pipe all the time. 

David.


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## David Fletcher (Jan 2, 2008)

OK Norman, 

First note that Baldwin style 1 was a style that had matching wheels to base colour, so Bowker and Inyo, both being style 1 had matching dark wheels...Inyo in Wine with wine wheels and Bowker in Lake with Lake wheels. 

Reno and Genoa predate the style book and dont have a style number, but an educated guess would be a loco much like Wine style 1, but with red wheels. We know many of the popular styles used prior to the style book were included as the latest incarnation in the style book and given a number. Such examples are style 27 and 37, which were deep painted locos style 1 and 3, but with red wheels, pretty much like the styles prior to the 1874 style book. 

Its a guess, but Reno and Genoa were probably painted in something like style 27, decoration is like style 1, but with the red wheels, also the filergree would not be absolute style 1, but a precursor. The restoration of Empire, if done in Wine would be pretty much like what Reno and Genoa might have looked like. Early photos of Reno see a style 1 like tender, but with additional coloured bands at top and bottom like the late 1860s tenders, and the domes virtually style 1, with the typical style 1 top. 

I dont buy the bright green for Russia iron - you've seen the samples on the web site, I've seen plenty more and that kind of green is not amoung them, they are all grey, with hints of blue or green or brown, but they look basically dark grey. I dont doubt the colours differ over time and process, but you're talking V&T, there is no guessing, the stuff exists you can see it. and it is consistent with Russia Iron of this time, and damn close to the American version of mide 1870s onward, plus damn close to the Planished Iron i've seen on pumping engines from the late 1890s. I think by the 1870s the method was pretty much worked out.


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## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi David:

Thank you for the explanation.

Are WINE and LAKE close in colour? Is WINE a dark red, approaching the appearance of LAKE, or is WINE similar to Canadian Pacific maroon ? 

Thank you

Norman


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## David Fletcher (Jan 2, 2008)

Norman, 
Take a look at your heritage paint cataloques for restoration of Victorian houses, and look for the deep wine red colours and deep browns, thats along the lines you're after. 
Wine is literally the colour of...wine. Lake is like a deep cooking chocolate brown, dark chocolate with a touch of purple. Per Victorian traditions, they are both really deep toned, but one is more red, and the other deep brown.


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