I WAS TOLD THAT SOUTHERN RAN SOME BLACK PASSENGER CARS. IF SO WHAT YEARS AND WHAT CAR NUMBERS.

-- R. WAYNE GIBSON (waynegibson@mail.clis.com), November 04, 1999

Answers

Supposedly somone writing in Railroad Man's Magazine years ago said that Southern Rwy. passenger cars were black. My guess is that he saw the cars painted Pullman green in poor light and thought they were black. I have looked at a lot of Southern Rwy. passenger car specs and lettering diagrams dating from the twenties on, and I have never seen any indication of passenger cars painted black.

Now skip ahead to the sixties and seventies, and you will find that some old passenger cars were painted black when assigned to the wrecking outfit.

-- Jack Wyatt (cjwyatt@wavegate.com), November 04, 1999.

Jack and Wayne--based on the photos in the Southern Railway Color Guide book by Kincaid, I can see where someone might think they were black--they sure look that way in the photos. I have been told that Southern did use a darker version of Pullman Green for their cars but never black, other than the post 1951 MOW cars--Larry

-- Larry Puckett (ljpuckett@msn.com), November 05, 1999.

Just found out that an "almost black,possibly very dark green" smooth- sided dome car that I recall riding on the Southern Cresent,between Atlanta and New Orleans in the mid 1970's, may have been an ex- Wabash/ex C of G, #1602.

-- Marshal San Miguel (msanmigu@bellsouth.net), July 31, 2003.