The Steamboating Forum

I have done some internet searches for "steam launch engine" images and have noticed that 70-75 % of them are some shade of green and the other 25% or so are either red or blue.

Is there a significance to green over other colors?

Frank

Possibly just that green was a very popular colour in Victorian times. Everything from garden gates to railway engines got painted Brunswick green.

More about Steam Locomotives, but an interesting little read: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/colored/

At least for steam water pumps, Green was often a popular colour. I don't know why either.

I'm restoring a Marsh Simplex steam powered water pump that was painted brown when I got it. I thought that was a junky colour. Some told me to paint it green or black. I thought, well it's a water pump - water sometimes looks blue. So I'm painting my little pump blue.

I don't know if different coloured paints were cheaper, or if it was just an aesthetic from the manufacturer or the time period.

In my mind, if you are not trying to restore a steam engine or steam equipment to original colour, paint it whatever colour you want.

Although Black will often hide the grease, grim, oil, ash better.

In the steam traction engine community there is a concept of "An engine in its working clothes". The steam shovels that dug the Panama canal were certainly not cleaned and polished every day. They were greasy/oily/black from soot all the time. But they were working hard doing a big job.

-CB

There are many theories as to why machinery was generally painted green.

One very popular one was that it helped brighten up factories and workshops - this was during the time when it was popularly believed that being in parks and other "green-spaces" was good for your health in some way.

Another popular theory is that dirt and oil are easily spotted on green, but isn't badly stained by it. This meant that one could quickly identify any oil leaks and such to maintain the bearings in machinery. Oil and dirt would also gather in any cracks in the metal which would act as an early warning sign for potential machine failures

Yet another theory was that green paint was cheaper to manufacture, so they used lots of it.

Many engines - stationary and otherwise - painted the lower part of the engine (from the bottom of the cylinder heads to the drip pan) a light color, about the color of "whipped cream", is very nice for: finding parts, visualizing oil leaks, etc. Then with a maroon or green paintfor the exterior a nice contrast.

When I bought the York casting kit I had a brief conversation with Pat Spurlock on engine color and he remarked never to paint a marine engine green (I don't remember if I had asked why). His suggestion, which backs up artemis, was to paint a crème color so that you can see oil drips and spills.

I still have a ways to go before paint goes on but I plan on at least painting the drip pan a light color. I can see where more reflected light in the engine area (bilge) would be helpful.

Ken