Colored Steam Locomotives

I thought it would be fun to categorize steam locomotives using a method that I have not seen done before -- by their color.

Before the 1890s, most if not all locomotives, freight and passenger, were painted in colors. Some like Jupiter, were very bright while others were more practical greens and browns. Black locomotives became common after coal burning engines made grime commonplace, beginning in 1880. This was done so that they didn't show all the dirt and grime that got collected during normal use. After 1900, when a railroad line wanted to show off their locomotive(s), perhaps when used exclusively for passenger service, they would use special paint schemes to make them look more "attractive". This, of course, necessitated more frequent maintenance and cleaning and therefore, was not a common practice.

This page (as well as this entire site) is mainly focused on North American steam locomotives. However, because the British (and a number of other countries) put more effort into coloring (or in this case maybe I should say colouring) their steam locomotives, a number of "foreign" steam locomotives are mentioned here. The LNER Mallard and the LNER Flying Scotsman are two good examples of coloured British steam. Elegant Steam is a web site devoted to British steam with many coloured examples.

This page shows a number of present day examples of colored steam locomotives. I'm sure that there are more examples than what I show here. If you would like to offer other examples, I would be more than happy to add your information to this page.

Another very famous blue steam locomotive is the British Railways No 60022 'Mallard' (holder of the world steam speed record). This engine, with most of its class, was painted Garter Blue. During the war it was painted black and for a few years during British Railways days was in BR passenger livery of Brunswick Green. It is now preserved in its original Garter Blue by the National Railway Museum, York, England.