I have a couple questions regarding real passenger cars. I'm wanting to roughly model a few Colorado Midland cars, and doing some research, some of them appear to be metal, not wood like I would have expected, and appear to be very glossy. How early would metal passenger cars have been produced? Would the cars, say from Pullman, have been delivered or painted in gloss finishes? I realize as the cars got older and the railroad started to go bankrupt the cars became weathered and dirty, but I like the gloss look. Would wood passenger cars have been painted with a gloss finish? Would a gloss finish look right on a model? Sometimes the "real world" looks wrong on a model railroad, ie: trees placed at an angle, etc.
Your knowledge, experience, and opinions would be much welcome.
