PRR F-units in black?

That is a great question!  I've heard all kinds of explainations over the years including one about copper flecks in the paint oxidizing turning the dark green to black.  Another is that the Dark Green Locomotive Enamel paint is actually "blacker than black" much like Spinal Tap's album cover (from the movie).

In reality, DGLE always looked black to me.  Probably depends on who was doing the paint mix!  Can't aswer your question if anybody actually made black units.  I know there are a lot of very green looking Pennsy units around.

Rich 

Same here.  It carries over into O gauge models...first time I saw a set of Weaver E-8s, I was sure they were black until I brought them home from a show and learned the color was actually Brunswick Green.

- Mike

As far as I know, Dark Green Locomotive Enamel was used on everything not Tuscan and not black.

Here's some info I found. 

Rusty

I heard it was the shop foreman's job to throw a handful yellow into a 55 gallon drum of black paint to make the DGLE.

According to the paint diagrams I have looked at in the PRRT&HS Journal (Pennsylvania RR Technical and HIstorical Society), the superstructures were all DGLE, almost black very dark green, as were steames.    The frames and trucks were supposed to be painted black, not DGLE and this applied to both GEEPS and F-units.    This is what the official RR instructions stated.    What actually happened in different shops, we don't know for sure, but most locos probably got the company standard paint job.

I have noticed the differnece on models when I put a black one next to the a DGLE.   When they stand alone, the DGLE usually looks black.

the other issues that arise are that weathering and dirt and sun beating down affected the perceived colors.    I had a friend who insisted he remembered seeing dark blue pennsy diesels.

Nope. Take the time to research what DGLE actually was, and how/why the PRR came up with that product, i.e. it is NOT "a 55 gallon drum of black paint with a quart of green tossed in" as the old modeler's rumor describes it.

Also for what it's worth, EMD did not paint ANY new units "black" for the PRR.

Gentlemen,

   Rusty posted the correct historical account for all to read.  Although I have never seen the black as an original PRR color, some of the repair shops would run out of PRR

Green and black paint may have been used on some repair jobs, even the PRR does not know for sure what happened in these old repair shops, and that is the absolute truth of the situation.  PRR never had a black color in their original inventory.

PCRR/Dave

Well, I'm thankful that I don't have to paint mine anything but black...

Ford UA (Ebony) black satin clear to be exact.

I don't know about anyone else, but I assumed Centralfan was just being humorous with this.

I am convinced my dad's '49 Chevy was painted DGLE!  It sure looked black until it was parked next to a black car, then it looked green.  Maybe GM supplied the PRR the DGLE or was it vice versa?   ;-)  Ha, ha

Maybe the measurements aren't exact but the formula holds true.  Anyone who has done custom mixing knows ( Yeah, I tried it ) a small amount of yellow will turn a large amount of black into DGLE.

Bruce