Tuscan red

Tuscan red is a shade of red that was used on the passenger cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, as well as on the PRR TrucTrailers. It also was used extensively by the New South Wales Government Railways in Australia, in a similar fashion to the PRR.^[1] The Canadian Pacific Railway used it historically and painted its luxury revival cars in this color.^[2] It is also a Prismacolor colored pencil.

The first recorded use of Tuscan red as a color name in English was in the early 1800s (exact date uncertain).^[3]

The color was popular in the late 19th century but non-standardized. It became the ‘signature color’ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which instituted specifications for its formulation.^[4][5] Before the 1880s, pigments extracted from Brazil wood were used in its manufacture, but these proved inadequate in terms of hiding power and stability.^[5]

A 1916 US National Bureau of Standards circular describes it as based on Indian red, which derives its color from iron oxides. The color was then modified by treatment with an alizarin lake pigment. The pigment’s stability lent itself to hard use in applications such as rail cars and machinery.^[6] Lower-cost imitations were made without iron oxides by using gypsum or whiting as a base and adding aniline dyes.^[7]

See also

• List of colors

References

1. ^ John C. Dunn (March 2007). Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering, 1921-1955. Rosenberg Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-877058-42-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=yJXEiRvswoIC&pg=PA56. Retrieved 12 September 2011. 
2. ^ Tom Murray (1 July 2006). Canadian Pacific Railway. Voyageur Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7603-2255-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=L6Uvm3kzfJMC&pg=PA114. Retrieved 12 September 2011. 
3. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 206; Color Sample of Tuscan Red: Page 37 Plate 7 Color Sample L8—The color shown above matches the color sample in the book
4. ^ Mike Schafer; Joe Welsh; Kevin J. Holland (31 December 2001). The American passenger train. MBI Publishing Company. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-7603-0896-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZavmIIRE95QC&pg=RA1-PT5. Retrieved 12 September 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Charles Ludwig Uebele (1913). Paint making and color grinding: a practical treatise for paint manufacturers and factory managers, including comprehensive information regarding factory arrangement; pigments; vehicles and thinners; liquid and cold water paints as well as practical working formulas and recipes. The Painters magazine. pp. 213–218. http://books.google.com/books?id=lciEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA213. Retrieved 12 September 2011. 
6. ^ United States. National Bureau of Standards (1916). Circular of the Bureau of Standards. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.. p. 10. http://books.google.com/books?id=_EsbAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA10-PA38. Retrieved 12 September 2011. 
7. ^ Albanis Ashmun Kelly (1920). The expert house painter: A reliable guide for the experienced house painter and manual of instruction for the less expert workman ... Formulas given for various paint mixtures, tests for ascertaining purity and value of materials, how to choose and combine proper colors in their true scientific relations, etc. David McKay company. p. 181. http://books.google.com/books?id=v07iAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA181. Retrieved 13 September 2011.