Freight Car Paint Schemes
A great many different paint schemes have been used over the years by the railroads. This is a quick reference for the major schemes for the freight cars of the Canadian Railroads to assist in selecting models for your layout.
Cars were typically repainted on an average of every 10-12 years. But this could vary greatly, and paint schemes introduced in one era were often seen long after they were replaced by another. For example, the Green Maple Leaf herald introduced on Canadian National box cars in 1945 were photographed on cars at late as 1983.
More roads will be added in the future, but here are the big two to start - Canadian National and Canadian Pacific.
Canadian National While reporting marks on cars were generally CN, the official reporting marks were CNR until 1960. Box and Auto Cars Pre-1943  Painted 'Box Car Red'. No herald. Canadian National on two lines in the first panel. Reporting marks of C.N. (with periods). C.N. lettering on wood doors. Gothic sans-serif lettering. (Note 1) This is the only scheme used on wood or composite cars. 1943  White Maple Leaf herald introduced. Tilted box with 'Serves All Canada'. Remaining lettering unchanged. 1945  Green Maple Leaf introduced. Tilted box with 'Serves All Canada.' Some cars built 1945 to early 1946 with 'Canada's Largest Railway'. 1954  Modified Green Maple Leaf herald introduced. Straight box with 'Serves All Canada.' 1957 Lines above and below reporting marks no longer used, including some composite cars. 1961  'Wet Noodle' herald introduced. Dimensional data in two columns on right side. c1964 Canadian law requires one side to be lettered in French as Canadien National. | Canadian Pacific While reporting marks on cars were generally CP, the official reporting marks were CPR until 1968. Box and Auto Cars c1923 - 1947  Painted 'Box Car Red'. No herald. Canadian Pacific on two lines in the first panel of single sheathed cars. Canadian Pacific on one line on double sheathed cars. Reporting marks of C.P. (with periods). C.P. lettering on wood doors. Gothic sans-serif lettering. (Note 1) This is the only scheme used on wood or composite cars. 1947  'Spans the World' herald introduced. 1951  Stepped 'Canadian Pacific Railway' introduced. 1959 Lines above and below reporting marks no longer used, including some composite cars. c1959-1962  Script 'Canadian Pacific' introduced. Some cars received small shield herald, 'Newsprint Service Only'. c1964 Canadian law requires one side to be lettered in French as Canadien Pacific. 1965 Script herald enlarged. 1966 Script herald enlarged, 'Canadian' to the left of the door, 'Pacific' to the right. c1966-1967  Green body, cream script herald, and White Pine Tree herald used on newsprint cars in 80967 - 81216 series. 1967 CP Rail scheme introduced. Orange sides, with red script lettering, black ends and silver roof introduced for heated insulated cars. 1968  Railroad name officially changed to CP Rail. Multimark ('Pacman') herald introduced. 1988 Multimark eliminated. |
