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Colours
Dominion Atlantic Colours
The DAR was known for its boldly painted rolling stock and especially locomotives. Long after most North American railways had relegated locomotives to black, the DAR continued with gold trimmed red locomotives. There has been considerable discussion about what these colours were at different times: magenta, maroon, Tuscan red[1], and Colonial red.[2] The following is a review of the evidence and evolution of the DAR's legendary colours.
Note: See Logos Category for discussion of the design and use of DAR heralds.
Locomotive Colours
Models and Other Sources
No. 32 Model Colours
These are Averaged colours using PhotoShop taken from the main steam cyclinder on the model of No. 32 in the Wolfville library.
- RGB: 81, 18, 27
- HSB: 351, 78%, 32%
- Lab: 17, 20, 12
- CMYK: 41%, 89%, 72%, 62%
- #51121b
- Web Only: #660033
- Pantone approximately 7421C
Model of No. 32 made in 1908, today displayed at the Wolfville Library located in the restored Wolfville Station.
Front end of the 1908 model of No. 32 displayed at the Wolfville Library located in the Wolfville Station.
Detail of the cylinder and name board of the 1908 model of No. 32 displayed at the Wolfville Library located in the Wolfville Station.
Original Name Plate No. 32
The closest we'll get to an actual colour photo of the original paint scheme of a DAR locomotive as it still bears original paint traces by the number and in the crown in 2015.
No. 537 Model Colours
Painted in the "c. 1936 - c. 1942" Scheme. Photo and model source unknown. Appears to be extremely accurate.
- Red colour is RGB 75, 30, 25 and taken from the tender where there is the least relection.
Colour Schemes by Period
1893 to c. 1902
- Colour: Magenta, described by Marguerite Woodworth says Vernon Smith, the first manager of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway personally picked "that startling magenta which even now is even now unique on this continent"[3]
- Colour Details: boilers, driving wheels, cab, tender - red; smoke box, tender wheels and trucks - black; Tires - white[4]
- Lettering & Decoration: Gold lettering, double pinstriping
- Headlight: Usually DAR cypher initials
- Sanddome: Number
- Cab: Name, heavy Roman
- Tender: "Dominion Atlantic", arched in heavy Roman over "Railway"
c. 1903 to c. 1918
- Colour: Magenta, gold lettering and double striping
- Headlight: Often DAR cypher initials
- Sanddome: Double pinstriping, usually Number
- Cab: Name, heavy Roman
- Tender: "Dominion Atlantic" heavy Roman lettering in a straight line[5]
"Acadia" at Centreville.
No. 11 at the Digby Station at Digby
Kent, locomotive No. 26.
No. 27 "Canada".
Locomotive No. 28, the Dominion Atlantic's only 2-6-0 Mogul.
Locomotive No. 31 at Canning Station with the Oyler apple warehouse under construction.
c. 1918 to c. 1928
- Colour: Tuscan Red[1], gold lettering
- Cab: Name, sometimes over small number, in George Bury style art deco sans-serif
- Tender: Small "Dominion Atlantic", large number in George Bury style art deco sans-serif[6]
Angus Shops circa May 1924.
c. 1929 - 1935
- Colour: Tuscan Red[1], gold lettering and stripes
- Sanddome: Number, pinstriping
- Cab: Name, Roman
- Tender: Land of Evangeline herald, single pinstripe frame
c. 1936 - c. 1942
- Colour: Tuscan Red[1] or Colonial Red[2], gold or yellow lettering and stripes
- Tender: Land of Evangeline herald, single pinstripe frame
- Cab: Number with pinstripe frame
- Running Board: Name on cast brass plaque
- Smokebox Front: Silver (1938-1942)
"Much favourable comment has been made on the new color scheme recently adopted for the front end of locomotives. The old black color formerly in use has given way to a bright silver making the unit much more visible from a considerable distance and greatly adding the attractiveness of the engine."
- George Bishop "Railway Notes" Kentville Advertiser Oct. 27, 1938.
No. 26 "Kent" June 18, 1936 at Kentville
No. 32 freshly painted as Blomidon.
DAR Locomotive 2552 in Halifax in 1939
No. 552 Membertou with 1938 silver smokebox.
No. 1018 De Monts circa 1941 at Halifax in DAR livery.
c. 1943 - 1954
- Colour: Black, yellow lettering
- Cab: Number, pinstripe frame often omitted
- Tender: Land of Evangeline herald, single pinstripe frame usually omitted on ten wheelers but retained on Pacifics.
1956 - 1959 (S-3s)
- Colour: Tuscan Red[1] and Grey, Tuscan letters & numbers
- Dominion Atlantic
S-3's No. 6560 & 6561 pulling plaster train near Windsor on August 28, 1956.
S-3's No. 6560 & 6561 pulling plaster train near Windsor on August 28, 1956.
1959 - 1965 (SW1200s)
- Colour: Tuscan Red[1] and Grey, Tuscan letters & numbers in Block Roman
- Canadian Pacific
No. 8135 wayfreight waiting for empty plaster train to pass in Windsor in August 1959. Note boxcar No. 259118.
No. 8137 at Windsor on July 6, 1976.
1965 - 1968 (SW1200s)
- Colour: Tuscan Red[1] and Grey, Tuscan letters & numbers in Script Roman
- Canadian Pacific
No. 8136 at the Kentville Car Shop circa 1972.
1968 - 1994
- Colour: Action Red, Multimark, white letters & numbers
- CP Rail
Variations
Around World War One, some locomotives including No. 32 were briefly painted black but soon returned to red. In the 1920s, some locomotives included No. 25 and No. 508 were painted "a very soft green" for a short time before being returned to red.[4] Many DAR locomotives arrived and began service on the DAR in lettered CPR and painted black until they were shopped in Kentville and given DAR livery. Some steam locomotives, especially in later years, were never repainted from their CP lettering colour scheme.
Passenger Car Colours
Models and Other Sources
Dan Conlin explained that this passenger car was most likely an addition years after the original locomotive was built. The passenger car and locomotive were reportedly used yearly for many years on the DAR's parade float in the annual Apple Blossom Festival parade.
Likely repainted many times by the DAR, purchased and restored by Gary Ness and then donated to the Wolfville Public Library, the colour source is still thought to be in the 30 or 40's vintage. Unfortunately the passenger car is little more than a parade float model and is in fact painted the same colour as the locomotive which clearly the CPR or to our knowledge the DAR never did. From that we will consider the colour of this passenger car to be inadmissable for the purpose of determining the true colour of the passenger cars in any period.
A model of No. 16 Josephine.
A model of No. 16 Josephine.
A model of No. 16 Josephine.
1920s era model of observation car Annapolis Royal at the restored Wolfville Station.
The sylized platform of the 1920s era model of Annapolis Royal at the restored Wolfville Station.
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Colour Schemes by Period
One thing that has become clear from photographic evidence is that sometime before 1941, the DAR removed the "Dominion Atlantic" from the name boards and started painting the Evangeline herald on the sides near each end of selected cars. By 1946 however, photographic evidence shows that the cars were being returned to the "Dominion Atlantic" nameboards with no Evangeline heralds on the body again. It is not certain either what cars were selected for this process or why as many remained lettered on the name boards "Canadian Pacific" and never received the Evangeline treatment. One might speculate and follow it up by investigating the MP14s that the only cars to receive the Evangeline heralds were on strength as DAR stock and that anything Canadian Pacific was not changed.
Station Colours
Models and Other Sources
None
Colour Schemes by Period
It seems that the progression of paint schemes to the Kentville Station was then rolled out to various stations along the line. However, exception was more the rule than standardization and many stations retained earlier or custom paint schemes for their entire life. As a result the stations themselves vary so much that their individual appearance will be recorded and contained on each station's individual page. Here within we shall describe only the general schemes used across the line.
Original Windsor and Annapolis Scheme
C.P.R. Tuscan Theme
D.A.R. Scheme
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 CPTRACKS, Open Observation Car Folio listing Tuscan Red
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "CPR's Red", OK the PK website This article describes a visit to DAR headquarters in the 1960s where staff indicated that the DAR's red was a tint called "Colonial Red" supplied by a local hardware store
- ↑ Marguerite Woodworth, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, page 65
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Letter 1980 Harold Jenkins to Jim O'Donnell
- ↑ Baldwin Locomotive Specifications provided by Jim O'Donnell show tender lettering up to No.26 in 1901 was arch style but on No. 27 in 1903 it was straight line.
- ↑ George Bury, a CP executive in Winnipeg, designed a sans-serif font to more clearly distinguish numbers in 1912. It was used system-wide for the CPR from WW I to 1928. Omer Lavalllee, Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives, page 444
