We've all seen some of the various special paint schemes running around on diesels over the last few decades. How about "back in the day"? I stumbled upon this cool photo of B&O 5207 pained up for the Akron Soap Box Derby. What others were out there?

http://photoswest.org:8080/cgi-bin/cw_c ... 048268+1+2

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00401175+RR-1175

Traction lines often put special paint schemes on their cars; the most common were War Bonds and recruiting liveries used during World War II but there were others too. I know that Gary Railways 19 at IRM was painted white and covered with safety slogans and suggestions in the late 1930's, and Los Angeles Railways had a car painted in eye-popping peppermint colors.

The city known for these cars was Pittsburgh, which had dozens of cars painted in special advertising schemes at one time or another. Car 1467, now at PTM, had such a livery at one point though I couldn't find a photo of it. The best known was a car nicknamed the "Mod Desire":



Other cars advertised county fairs, airlines, and even (ironically) automobiles. And there was this car, which advertised the Freedom Train! Pittsburgh also had the "boat car," which was a PCC made up to look like a riverboat complete with sheet-metal paddle boxes and fake stacks. Unfortunately I can't find a photo of it online but it is preserved, kept on private property in Uniontown, PA. All photos linked to are from Dave's Rail Pictures.

For photos of 1467 as an ad car, look at PTM's roster pages on their website:

http://www.pa-trolley.org/Roster/PRC1467.htm

Tim

El Paso City Lines had a PCC done up as a loaf of "Bimbo" bread (a Mexican brand).

It's the rear car in this photo: