PACIFIC RAILROAD SOCIETY is composed of people from all walks of life who share a common interest in railroads. We are one of the oldest and largest independent rail enthusiast organizations in the United States, having an average annual membership of over 650. Donations are tax deductible under Federal and State law.

Membership in the Society is open to anyone interested in railroads or rail transit. Train travel, history, preservation, equipment restoration and photography are among the interests and activities of the Society. They are all done on a voluntary basis.

IF YOU ENJOY RAILROADS AND RAIL TRANSIT, THE PACIFIC RAILROAD SOCIETY IS FOR YOU!

Why These Colors?  

These colors were chosen for the Pacific Railroad Society home pages because they are the official colors of the club.

PRS colors of yellow and dark green came about when we acquired our first passenger car, the Imperial Bird.  At the time, the Bird was painted UP armor yellow with red stripes.  Since we were putting the car into service immediately, we wanted to paint it in some kind of distinctive PRS way which would not involve a major painting operation.

Wayne Melching, Pacific Railroad Society co-founding member and Vice President when the Imperial Bird was acquired, said that he always liked the yellow and green used by Chicago and Northwestern (C&NW) on their passenger trains.  The idea of dark green and Armor Yellow was well received within the society. The red stripes were painted over in dark green and dark green lettering and numbering was applied.

Viola! Instant Pacific Railroad Society paint scheme!  Later, a Pacific Railroad Society standard paint scheme was figured out, with the top letter board being wider (per C&NW practice) with the name Pacific Railroad Society in an expanded running script, the car name and numbers in a distinctive san-serif green, the roofs, ends, and under bodies in UP gray, the trucks in bright silver, the end doors in salmon, the vestibules in light cream yellow and the body paint UP armor yellow.

Pacific Railroad Society has never had all its cars painted this way.  This paint scheme can be seen in one of the photographs of the National Forum.