The Practically Complete Guide to Baltimore PCC Paint Schemes

Now, through the tireless and persistent research of JOHN ENGLEMAN,
we proudly present you with this unique treat:

THE practically COMPLETE GUIDE to
PCCPAINT VARIATIONS:
by John Engleman

Baltimore's Railfans are fortunate to have a tireless enthusiast of the PCC car in John Engleman. A diligent researcher with a "completist" nature at heart, John has now shared his observations on his all-time favorite series, the PCC cars. During their 27 year career in the Monumental City, three main schemes were observed, which, with close observation, could be subdivided into several variations. In addition, several Billboard Cars existed, which led to even more variety within the fleet. Without further delay comes this thorough guide into the colors of the Baltimore PCCs:

DELIVERY SCHEMES: "ALEXANDRIA BLUE"

A. St. Louis Car Co. PCCs 7001-7027:

(1) As delivered - Alexandria Blue body from the middle of the below lower strip of the beltrail, orange beltrail from the middle of lower strip, orange trolley catcher, cream window area from and including the top strip of beltrail to just above first fluting strip above windows, small Alexandria blue stripe, glossy gray roof. The Alexandria blue stripe did not go across the front or rear of any St. Louis Car Co. car in this variation. In this scheme the rear of the car was green (as Alexandria Blue will be referred to from now on), orange beltrail and gray from beltrail to top of car. All cars had chromed headlight wings, stop light rims and front and rear anti-climbers. 6" Gold-leaf Railroad Roman numbers outlined in black were located on the front and rear, centered over each truck on the door side, and centered below the windows mid-car on the blind side. Some cars had BTC emblems or BALTIMORE TRANSIT lettering later in their careers. All cars had the nearly square front ad racks to the left of the headlight from day one. No other ad racks were on the cars. These cars never had window guards on the door sides of the car.
(2) Second version - Basically the same below fluting strips above windows but cream came up to the top fluting strip, then a larger green stripe on the top fluting strip, and a glossy gray roof. On this version the rear window area was cream as the top fluting strip swooped to above the rear windows, not below them.
(3) 1944 repaints only - The same as version 2 but substituting a non-glossy tan roof for the previous gray. (See BTC color publicity photo for this variation.)

B. Brilliner 7501:

(1) As delivered - Green body, Orange stripe 4 1/2 inches thick from BELOW the beltrail on the front and rear of car, but INCLUDING the beltrail on each side of the car, cream window area to almost the roofline, narrow green stripe that swooped up in the front slightly to go over the roll-sign, but swooped down to below the beltrail in the rear. Anti-climbers were also green. Trolley catcher was orange. The words "FRONT ENTRANCE" were located level with the top of the front anti-climber lip. The Brilliner never had wings and the stoplight rims were cream. Numbers were the same as the St. Louis cars.
(2) 1940 Repaint - Green was retained on the lower body, but orange was now on the beltrail all the way around the car. The cream window area remained the same on the sides, but the narrow green stripe was now completely horizontal all the way around the car including the front and rear. Front and rear anti-climbers were painted silver. The words "FRONT ENTRANCE" were placed in the conventional position. The car kept its' bar room doors until later in life.

C. 1939 Pullmans 7023-7033 & 7306-7334:

(1) As delivered - Green body below beltrail, orange beltrail (including bottom lip but not including top lip), orange trolley catcher, cream windows up to half-way between top of rain guard and fluting stripe, narrow green stripe which swooped to continue across front of car under roll-sign and rear of car on the top half of the top lip of the beltrail, and a glossy gray roof. Numbers were the same as the St. Louis cars. Cars had chromed wings, anti-climbers, and rims around stop lights and marker lights. All 1939 cars were delivered without right side window guards. These were never installed on these cars.
(2) First modifications: Beginning in 1940, the original cars had BTC emblems put on both sides under the first window posts, the car number on the door side was relocated to just in front of the center door at floor level, on the blind side it was located in the center of the car at floor level, and most of the cars the words "BALTIMORE TRANSIT" appeared in black-outlined gold leaf over the rear trucks. Headlight wings were removed whenever a car needed a new front panel because of accident damage after 1941.

D. 1940-1942 Pullmans 7034-7097 & 7335-7403:

(1) As delivered - These cars were delivered in green body, orange beltrail, orange trolley catcher, cream window area, narrow green stripe half way between top of windows and fluting, and glossy gray roof, with chromed wings, anti-climbers, and marker and stop light rims. Car numbers in black outlined gold leaf Railroad Roman, BTC emblems, and lettering were the same as the modified "Originals".

E. GE 1944 Pullmans 7098-7147:

(1) As delivered - Because of war-time shortages, these cars had no stainless steel or chrome trim inside or out. Roofs of these cars were now a flat slate gray instead of glossy gray. Rims around stop lights and marker lights were painted cream. Anti-climbers were painted black. Wooden strips replaced some rubber on walking areas of the roof. There were no wings and all had painted steel window sash all around. These were replaced with stainless steel immediately after the war. The 1944 cars, both GE & WH had green trolley catchers instead of orange ones. Otherwise the paint scheme was the same.

F. WESTINGHOUSE 1944 Pullmans 7404-7428:

(1) - As delivered - These cars were the same as the 1944 GE cars except for their roof. Because of a shortage of gray pigment and a perceived problem with the Germans seeing a gray roof from bombers, all cars received in the latter part of 1944 and early 1945 had flat non-glossy tan roofs. Stainless steel replaced all window sash after the war on these cars as well, however interior trim (as with GE cars) remained painted steel until the end.

VARIATIONS:

Car 7029 repainted exactly the same as the Brilliner repaint in 1940 - reason unknown.
A small number of "Original" and "Pre-War" cars had their glossy gray roofs repainted in 1944 with either the flat slate gray or flat tan paint.
Some cars had the canvas area around the trolley pole repainted black.
A small number of cars (7307, 7313 are two known examples) had repaintings during the war ommitting the narrow greenstripe above the windows.
All cars with right side window guards, except 7068, had them removed after the diasterous Chicago PCC/gasoline truck collision. 7068 kept its' guards until 1963, when it donated them to 7407.

NATIONAL CITY LINES "FRUIT SALAD" SCHEME

A. Background behind the change:

In late 1945, Baltimore Transit apparently ordered or authorized Pullman-Standard to begin construction on 100 MU-able all-electric cars. BTC then came under NCL ownership and the order was cancelled after Pullman had supplies on hand for the cars, and reportedly had 4 or 5 cars actually under construction, but not completed. One of these cars apparently became Boston's 3218, and the others went to Cleveland. The cars in both Boston and Cleveland were the same car with cosmetic differences, mainly Boston's left hand center door and Cleveland's front marker lights. Pullman-Standard apparently gave both cities fantastic deals on these cars to unload parts on hand from BTC's cancelled order. Car 3218 in Boston even had a hole in the floor in front of the rear seat for a bell tap - a Baltimore exclusive. No other Boston car had one. Many arguments can be made about these cars, both pro and con, but overwhelming evidence and circumstances and design oddities on both Boston's and Cleveland's Pullman all-electrics point to the proposed BTC car. Anyway, a paint scheme was designed for these cars, and although they never arrived, the paint scheme did.

B. Scheme and Variations:

Car 7075 was apparently the first experiment towards this scheme. It was painted NCL yellow with an NCL green beltrail (including both top and bottom lips), an NCL green drip rail above the windows, and a white roof.
This was never repeated on any other car. No other Baltimore streetcar ever had a white roof (except some billboard cars), and all the other cars repainted were painted as the all-electrics would have been - BTC yellow (darker than NCL) below the windows, medium olive green (darker than NCL) window area and beltrail (including both lips), BTC yellow above the windows up to the fluting strip (this is where the standee windows of the all-electrics would have been), and a glossy gray roof. The yellow dipped alongside the roll-sign box in the front of the car as the cream had done on the green cars. The rear of these cars was all yellow from above the back windows down except for the green beltrail with a gray roof. The trolley catcher was believed to have been yellow as well. No other NCL property used these colors or scheme.
For the first 30 or so cars, black 6" numbers were used, along with black BTC emblems and black lettering "BALTIMORE TRANSIT" on both sides in the same style and locations as the last green cars had been.
On later repaints, the lettering was omitted but the numbers remained large, and the BTC emblems stayed on.
On still later repaints, the size of the numbers was reduced to 4" all around, and the emblems remained.
Anti-climbers were silver, wings were still chrome on the cars that still had them, and stop light and marker light rims remained chrome on Original and Pre-War cars, but stoplight rims were yellow and marker light rims were gray on war-time cars.
There apparently was only one variation to this scheme. A small number of cars (7028 and 7041 are the two known examples) received a green dividing stripe between the yellow and gray along the roof.
The standard front ad rack was retained and square ad racks appeared on the sides of almost all cars during this scheme.

REPLACEMENT:

This scheme lasted but a short time and approximately 2/3 of the fleet was repainted this way. It was not overly liked by the railfans of the time (who considered it the enemy NCL's colors) and thusly was not as heavily recorded as others. This led to the mistaken belief that not many cars were repainted in these colors.
The last car this color was #7117 on the 26-Sparrows Point line in the early 1950s.
Contrary to what fans of the time thought, this was an attractive paint scheme. The Brilliner was never painted this way, and so far no evidence of a St. Louis car in this scheme has surfaced except for a very unclear B&W photo of 7304 in which some see green and some do not.

NATIONAL CITY LINES: YELLOW CARS

A. Background behind the Change:

In late 1948 or early 1949 (although a picture of 7411 at Harford Rd, yard dated 11/47 exists), BTC decided it wanted no more green of any type. A concentrated program was started to paint everything yellow and gray.
The last green car was 7397 and it emerged from the shop in yellow and gray on October 15, 1951.

B. Scheme and Variations:

The PCCs had a BTC yellow body and window area with a glossy gray roof. The gray dipped to below the back windows above the belt rail at the rear of the car. Car numbers were 4" black stencils as was the BTC emblem after stocks of the decals were used up.
A railfan got hold of one decal and placed it above the back windows on one unremembered car where it ran around for about 3 weeks in 1960, before BTC became incensed and removed it.
Although car numbers on the front started out above the headlight, in 1957 BTC sold advertising rights to an outside company and a continuing program of bigger and more obtrusive ad racks began. First to appear were larger racks on the sides of the cars, then a rectangular rack above the headlight which caused the car number to be moved to above the front destination sign box. Most of the remaining fleet lost the square rack on the front for the first time in their lives in 1957 and 1958, although a few hung on.
Then still larger gigantic ugly racks appeared on the sides causing the car numbers to be moved to behind the center doors after they were covered over and the BTC emblems were either covered over completely or re-located to just behind the front door and to a corresponding location on the blind side
Next, in 1962, was a gigantic long strip ad across the front of the car which replaced the first rectangular ones and finally obliterated the last of the original square racks except on car 7342 which was in the shop for repairs at the time. This rack was so big and ungainly that it required the removal of one hang-sign hook and was so long that it drooped across the front due to the shape of the car body.
Then a Baltimore only rack appeared above the rear windows. Due to the slope of the roof these racks were mounted on brackets whereas all other racks were simply screwed into the car.
There were no other variations to the yellow and gray colors (except for a total mis-match of touch up paint everywhere on the cars.

C. Footnotes:

In 1961, the Maryland Public Service Commission ordered BTC to do something about the condition of the front of car 7100 which was at least four shades of yellow with literally dozens of accident dents. The car was a disgrace and it earned BTC the reputation of a totally disgraceful fleet. This was a gross overstatement, but it caused BTC to embark on a repainting program which included new fronts on many cars. Over 70 cars out of a fleet of now 132 received a complete repaint of yellow with a partial repaint of gray roofs (front and rear only) with some 30 cars receiving new fronts below the windshield.
This was the last hurrah except for car 7407 which was totally repainted in yellow and gray by George G. Klein (the Superintendent of Rail Maintenance) and his unsung but loyal and hardworking shop force in October of 1963 under the dogged insistence of John Engleman who was bound and determined that 7407 was going to be saved, and who had worked on the car after school and on weekends for months previously replacing window curtains and the painted steel window guards and rusted out window posts with stainless steel ones from inactive cars at Irvington, and overseeing repairs to the right side of the car after a serious accident with a truck's rear drop gate had gouged into the side below the windows between the front and center doors ripping open the side and tearing out the vertical support channels, causing the car to be scheduled for early retirement. Had it not been for John's constant harping at both Irvington and Washington Boulevard, the car would not have been repaired. John had begged for original green colors after the accident but the BTC brass on Washington Boulevard would have no part of it. Finally Mr. Klein just decided to do it yellow (still over the objections of the head office), and the car emerged from Irvington on October 27th gleaming in fresh yellow and gray with the gigantic ad racks removed, the only remaining original square one, salvaged from the lone survivor 7342, installed on the front, and for the first time in its' life, freshly chromed headlight wings. The car never entered regular service again, but did a number of fantrips and parties on October 28th thru November 1st, and then became the last car on the night of November 2nd and 3rd before becoming the celebrity it is today at BSM.
In 1969, 7407 received yet another paint scheme. It was painted an all over silver with royal blue lettering honoring its' 25th "Silver" anniversary.
Finally, the car went back to an almost original green scheme, and then when the MTA rebuilt it in 1990, it was painted in the scheme it wears today, representative of its' original green scheme. Only its' glossy tan roof and over-sized green dividing stripe around the car are incorrect. But the descendants of the same Company that originally ran it painted it, so except for the purists, it is correct.

"BILLBOARD" PCC CARS

Billboard PCC cars were not very common in Baltimore.

The first "billboard" PCC car was number 7049. It was painted solid white with a red cross over the headlight and red "flares" behind the front and center doors, and Red Cross emblems and red lettering in various places on the car. It obviously was advertising The Red Cross during the war.
Next was number 7389 which also advertised The Red Cross but in an entirely different paint scheme. This car was red below the windows, white window area up to the fluting and a red roof. Red lettering and red crosses in white triangular backgrounds were in various places.
After the war car 7389 was repainted again as another billboard car advertising The United Foster Home Campaign for homeless children.
Also in 1945, car 7409 was painted solid white with red belt rail stripe, red feathers and red lettering advertising The Community Fund and Red Feather Campaign.

No color photos of these cars are known to exist (at least no one will admit to having any), although the Author sure would like to find some, and no one really remembers for sure what colors 7389 was as The Foster Home Campaign car. From black and white photos we can see the car was at least four different colors.

This was the extent of billboard cars until 1954, when car 7338 was repainted as the Safety Car, part of an almost matched set which included an 1100 series bus and a 40 seat Pullman trackless trolley. The Safety car was green and white with green crosses and red lettering in white backgrounds promoting safe driving and walking.

All billboard cars were painted for relatively short periods, although the Safety Car lasted almost two years before it was wrecked, and was repainted back to standard yellow and gray.

There was one other billboard car, but it was not done by BTC. Baltimore Streetcar Museum PCC 7407 was painted in an all over silver with royal blue lettering celebrating its' 25th birthday in 1969. The lettering was removed after a year, but the silver car remained silver a while longer until it received its' first green scheme.

PCC Footnotes, Oddities, and Trivia:

Car 7033 was the only green car to receive small 4 inch gold numbers. It was done in the late '40s, but we can only guess as to why. Our best guess is that the car needed paint work and no 6" numbers were left in stock. But why was it painted green and not NCL colors? Who knows!?!?
One St. Louis Car Co. car, believed to be #7010, received outward folding wooden front doors after an accident late in life as a yellow and gray car. The Author saw a photo of this car years ago in someone's collection, but can not remember whose it was or for sure, the car number.
Car 7409 was the only war-time car to carry large 6" black numbers in NCL paint. This was occasioned by the repainting from The Red Feather Car mid-way thru the NCL paint period in 1947.
Car 7407 lost its' black front anti-climber in 1945 in an accident. It was replaced with a silver one.
Cars 7400 and 7108 hit the same tree in identical serious accidents caused by the same reason (rowdy Mt. St. Joe kids) at Irvington Loop 10 years apart. 7400 was repaired, but 7108 became the first 7100 to be scrapped in 1958. Up until that time no GE equipped cars had been scrapped.
Car 7078 was converted into an all-electric car in 1945, as an experiment prior to the 100 car cancelled order. It received electric actuated drum brakes, windshield wipers, and doors. Later it was converted back to an air car but was not entirely successful and for that reason it was chosen as the car to be sold to the Costa Rica Northern Railway.
Cars 7426, 7427, 7428 were delivered with air actuated drum brakes and kept them all their lives. They were the first war-time cars scrapped.
Car 7076 had red flooring. It was the only car so equipped, and it is believed that it was done for some sort of advertising campaign, but no one remembers what, when, or why. This car was the source of the red interior advertising binders that the Author relocated to 7407 in the 1960s. O'Ryan & Batchelder (BTC's contract ad company) had scattered them throughout the bus and streetcar fleet and they were brought back one by one to 7407, which has them all now.
Car 7103 had a sliding rear window instead of two outward opening ones. The left side of the window slid over the right side window. This was the only car so equipped. It was an experiment, not the result of an accident.
Car 7339 hit a B&O freight train in Curtis Bay in 1947, as a result of a high speed derailment when it failed to negotiate the loop. The car was actually bent and was severely damaged. It is unclear whether the car was repaired at Carroll Park with new parts from Pullman or whether it actually went back to the Pullman plant. Although its' new front looked almost the same, some dimensions and parts were different.