Russia Iron, also known as "Russian Iron" was a special type of metal used on locomotive boilers from approximately the 1870's to the 1920's.

The use of Russia Iron was fairly widespread during those years, many Black & White builder photos still exist that show what is quite clearly a shiny Russia Iron boiler jacket. but..the photos were all in Black & White, because color photography wasn't in widespread use until the 1940's and 50's.

The original steam locomotives that had Russia Iron boiler jackets ran out their careers and faded out during the 1910's, 20's and 30's, and by the 40's they were basically extinct. Then, after WWII, the hobby of model railroading really picked up in popularity. By the 1950's, 60's, and 70's people wanted to model those "old time" turn of the (20th) century locomotives. But wait..what color was Russia Iron exactly? No one knew! the actual locomotives were gone, and all the photos were in Black and White. For half a century, roughly 1950 to the year 2000, the true color of Russia Iron was temporarily lost to the model railroading community! people "heard" is was probably blue, perhaps from some old historic accounts. Then, the model railroad manufacturers made the whole thing *much* worse! by creating models like this:

This was very very wrong, but no one knew it for quite some time.

Some serious research on Russia Iron first appeared on the internet in 1997, when Jerry Kitts first posted some data he had received from Kyle Wyatt at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Click here for that information, which contains reprints of actual 19th century articles on the topic.

The Russia Iron was a boiler jacket. a protective metal cover to the boiler, wrapped around the outside of the boiler. It was not the main metal of the boiler itself.

I don't intend this page to be a detailed treatise on what Russia Iron is, or was, or its history,  or how it was made..since that data already exists in detail elsewhere, such as the link above, and links to other informational pages found at the bottom of this page.

Instead I am making this page more as a guide to what Russia Iron looks like! and several methods for modeling it. because there is still some confusion even today about what real Russia Iron should look like.

There are actually three different types of metal boiler jackets discussed here, and all are often lumped together under the term "Russia Iron" when used in a generic sense. First was the actual, genuine "Russia Iron"..made with the process first discovered in Russia, hence the name. But later on, locomotive builders began to use other processes, which may or may not be the same process for making the original version. the three processes are called:

Russia Iron (or Russian Iron, the terms are used interchangeably)
American Iron
Planished Iron

The exact difference between the three processes is not fully known, and from a modeling perspective the difference is unimportant, because it all looks about the same, and can be modeled in the same way. The later "American Iron" or "Planished Iron" was used on new locomotives as late as the 1920's. For the purposes of this webpage, I will use the term
"Russia Iron" in the generic sense, to talk about all three processes.
So if I say "This BR&P 2-8-8-2 was built by Alco in 1918 with a Russia Iron boiler" please understand I probably dont mean "original" Russia Iron! im simply referring to the type of boiler jacket on the locomotive. And for any one specific prototype locomotive, the exact process used is probably impossible to determine anyway!  So for the purposes of this page, I am lumping them all together under the "Russia Iron" banner.

The main thing I want to get across, and the thing that is no longer in dispute at all, is that Russia Iron was NOT BLUE!  not at all blue. also not greenish, or reddish, or pinkish. it was neutral grey.

It is generally believed that the "blue myth" came about because any shiny, neutral, reflective surface will reflect the colors around it..so on a day with a bright blue sky overhead, a russia iron boiler will reflect the sky, making it appear to have bluish cast..
 
Perhaps way back in the 1870's, (long before the invention of color photography) a newspaper reporter might have written something like "the new locomotive, with it's shiny blue boiler, was unloaded today at the depot..." leading to the misconception in the hobby that Russia Iron is blue.. leading to the myth that remained entrenched 130 years later..

but it never was, and never has been blue.

If conditions are right, the boiler might look somewhat blue, reflecting a blue sky.. but it will also look red if sitting under an intense sunset, or orange if parked next to a burning building!  but no one would ever suggest that a model locomotive should have a Russia Iron boiler painted red or orange..

On an overcast grey day, the boiler will appear neutral grey..because it is. it has no inherent color shade of its own.

Russia Iron was not painted, it was a specially treated Iron. The main advantage of this treatment was that it gave a protective finish to the boiler jacket, protecting the locomotive from damaging cinders, dirt and dust, and protecting from water and rust. As a side effect of this protective property, it also happened to be gorgeous! which railroads also used to great advantage.

"The great blue myth" has been around for 130 years or more. and modelers and model train manufacturers are only now beginning to let go of this myth. For most of the 20th century, modelers and model train manufacturers represented Russia Iron with...blue paint. 

Here are some examples of, in my opinion, very incorrectly done Russia Iron:

Light pastel "baby boy blue" is about as far as you can get from real Russia Iron!  not even remotely close.

And yes, in the above two examples, those are supposed to be representing Russia Iron, since those prototype locos did in fact wear Russia Iron, and it was the manufacturers intent to use that color to represent Russia Iron.

Please note that some prototype locomotives did have painted boilers! (in colors such as blue or green, while nearly all 20th century locomotives had black painted boilers.) The Rio Grande K27 mudhen with a green boiler, Great Northern locos with green boilers, etc. are examples of that..these are unrelated to Russia Iron.

To be fair, the model train manufacturers were simply doing what people expected Russia Iron to look like. everyone thought it was supposed to look like that! it was a very deeply entrenched myth!

In the past 5 years or so, some model train manufacturers have started to get the message! there have been some new models appearing with MUCH more accurate representations of Russia Iron...and, doing it the right way looks SO much better! Im hoping the light pastel baby-blue will soon fade away completely.

So..if that is what Russia Iron does not look like, what does it look like then?
glad you asked! 

In my opinion, the very best (looking) examples of Russia Iron in the world today exist on the two replica 4-4-0's at the Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah. The two locomotives are full-size operating replicas of the locomotives that met at the historic "Golden Spike" ceremony on May 10, 1869, completing the American transcontinental railroad.

When the replica locomotives were completed in 1979 and first painted, the National Park service had to make an "educated guess" on the color schemes of the two locomotives, because the actual historic schemes were not known at the time. They did a nice job, painting them both in an all-red scheme, but they didnt quite get it right! Later, railroad historians helped the Park service with the new schemes, making them much more historically accurate. The paint schemes today also includes the correct look for the historic Russia Iron boiler jackets on both locomotives. Here are some current photos of the two locomotives:

One thing I am not aware of...how did they actually make those boiler jackets? Perhaps its just glossy grey paint? or an actual treated metal jacket? I dont know for sure. If anyone knows, please let me know! and I will share the information here.

But, regardless of how it was made, THAT look, for me, is the goal of what Russia Iron should look like when making a model!   shiny, reflective, medium to dark neutral grey. Those two locomotives are my guide.

Some more historic locomotives that have accurate looking Russia Iron boilers include the "Sonoma" at the California State Railroad Museum,
and the "Dayton" at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. 
Both boilers depict Russia Iron with paint, but they have been very accurately matched to the historic Russia Iron color.

And a few more good examples of "correct looking" Russia Iron include some actual metal jackets made by Chris DeWitt, master mechanic of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, who developed a chemical  process for three locomotive boiler jackets, V&T 22 INYO, 
the "Overfair engine" in the lobby of CSRM,  and Dan Markoff's "Eureka" 4-4-0. 

A known actual example of Russia Iron exists on a model, built in the 1880's, of a 
Central Pacific 4-4-0, the model is also in the lobby of the CSRM.
(source for above infomation)
 

Those two jackets are a bit darker in grey tone than the Golden Spike locomotives.
It is generally believed the the lighter grey tone, as seen on the "Golden Spike" locomotives,
represents Russia Iron as it would have looked when new, and the darker grey tone could represent Russia Iron in later years, as it became darker with age and layers of tallow.

All those locomotives look fabulous however! 

and..as there were different processes used over a 50 year span, "Russia Iron", "American Iron" and "Planished Iron" were not exactly the same process, its extremely likely there was variation in tone on the actual prototype jackets..and coupled with differences in tone as jackets aged, its possible that both the lighter AND darker grey could both be quite historically accurate! depending on the age and history of the particular locomotive in question.

Personally,  I am going to use the Golden Spike locomotives as my quide when attempting to model Russia Iron.

The important thing to notice, on all four of the full-size locomotives shown above,
is that none of the boilers are BLUE! 

So..thats a look at full-scale Russia Iron..now, how about modeling it?

Over in the Large Scale world, on mylargescale.com, there has been much interest and discussion about modeling Russia Iron over the last few years. Kevin Strong wrote an article about making a real metal jacket, using brass and "brass black" chemicals, that has been very well recieved and duplicated on many projects.

Kevin's article can be found here.

And here is one of Kevin's beautiful locomotives, with a brass jacket using that technique:

Photos and model by Kevin Strong, used by permission.

Nothing looks quite like real metal than real metal! 
For more of Kevin's models, click here.
 

I tried my hand at the brass patina technique, resulting in a decent looking boiler:

Depending on the specific chemical used, you can end up with more of a "brownish" metal tone, which is what I have above. I don't consider it very accurate for "new" Russia Iron, because its too dark and too brown, it should be lighter and neutral grey, but it could represent a Russia Iron jacket that has been "on the road" for awhile.

More on the live steam "Angel" is here.
 

Another regular on mylargescale.com is David Fletcher, who has done all kinds of historic
research on specific locomotives, including the "Masterclass 2002"  Mason Bogie Project on MLS, and also builds some of the most amazing models you would ever wish to see.
Fletch has also built Large Scale, Fn3 models with this same "real metal" jacket technique.
He had access to a different chemical (not available commercially) for these jackets.

A Cooke 2-6-0:

Photos and model by David Fletcher, used by permission.
 

And one more model with a real metal jacket, Fletch's Mason Bogie:

Photos and model by David Fletcher, used by permission.
 

For more details on that Cooke 2-6-0 click here.
for more pics of the Mason Bogie, click here.
and for more of Fletch's models, take a look here.

and if you would like to build a Mason Bogie of your own! click here! 
 
It works! its definitely a great technique..different tones can be achieved with different brass thicknesses, different types and brands of "blackener" chemical, and varying the time the brass sheet stays in the chemical..the longer the "dip", the darker the metal.  There has also been some discussion around trying the chemical blackners on Nickel silver sheet stock, which might result in a better neutral grey than brass. I plan to experiment with it some more when it comes time to work on the boiler of my On2 scale SR&RL No. 9 Forney. I havent decided yet if I want to go with the brass or with paint..I will probably experiment with both and see which I like better.
 
 
 Speaking of paint..that brings me to the second major method of depicting Russia Iron in model form..good old-fashioned paint!

For 100 years or more, model locomotives have had Russia Iron boilers that were simulated with paint. various shades of grey paint, (and as we know so well..blue paint!) 
Many of those paints are still very useful, but lately there has been an even better choice on the market.."buffable metalizer paint!"

This stuff is great! made by Testors, (Model Master) it is a spray-on paint, which can then be buffed to a very realistic metal shine when dry! It has been readily adopted by the model airplane and model spaceship worlds, but hasnt been seen as much in the model railroad world until recently. The Testors metalizer paint comes in a wide range of "tones" representing several different types of metals.

The Model Master Gunmetal Metalizer paint is considered one of the best methods
currently known for simulating "new" Russia Iron on a model..It has that lighter neutral
grey look.

Here is an example of a locomotive using this metalizer paint, again by Kevin Strong.

Photos and model by Kevin Strong, used by permission.

This Russia Iron boiler was made with Model Master's "Gunmetal" Buffable Metalizing Paint.
For more details on the Heisler, click here.
 
 
 

And a second model using that same Model Master "Gunmetal" Buffable Metalizing Paint.
Fletch's CCCR Porter No.7

Now those are some beautiful models! 
Thank you Kevin and Fletch for sharing your skills with all of us around the world.

 Another brand of "metalizer paint" is made by Alcad:
http://www.alclad2.com
this paint also gives a fabulous "real metal" look, but wouldn't be as useful for depicting
Russia Iron, as it represents a much lighter, brighter "chrome" style of metal. Could be
great for stainless-steel diesels however!

In 2018 I completed another Large Scale model with a Russia Iron boiler, my Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 kitbash project, converted to a 2-8-2:

A full builders log for that locomotive project is here, including details on the paint I used, is here:
https://scotlawrence.github.io/Stonehedge/locomotives.html

 
 
      And thats all I have for now on Russia Iron.
   

If anyone has anything to add to this discussion, feel free to send me a note! This kind of historic research is always ongoing, changing and evolving, this certainty wont be the last word on the topic! And I certainty dont claim to be an expert.. everything I have gathered on this page has come from people much more knowledgeable than me.

I would especially like to thank David Fletcher, Kevin Strong, and Jim Wilke, (with whom I have corresponded personally on this topic.)

and Chris DeWitt, Jerry Kitts, and Kyle Wyatt. Gentleman I don't know personally, but whos
work and research has also added much to my knowledge on the topic.

thanks! 
   

Links to more information on Russia Iron.

Jerry Kitts and Kyle Wyatt information, Historic Russia Iron information,including 19th Century articles.

Some more Kyle Wyatt notes on Russia Iron. 

Patina Finish for your Boiler. article by Kevin Strong about modeling a metal boiler jacket.

More techniques for modeling Russia Iron  From the Maine On2 FAQ.

An Fn3 scale Heisler, representing Russia Iron with "metalizer" Paint. By Kevin Strong

An Fn3 scale Mogul, representing Russia Iron with real metal. By David Fletcher.
 
 
Scot Lawrence
Page first written and uploaded in 2008.
Updated 2018.

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