Another factor that comes into play is film - we all know that over time, Ektachrome begins to wash out and fade due to deterioration. Hope this helps you. That 1940s freight car color is still vague, but in the 1950s the color appears to be as maroon as the diesels. I'm in the process of assembling the next volumes of Lackawanna color books for Morning Sun, and in these hundreds of slides a few freshly painted cars appear, and maroon seems to be the color. The older the paint, the lighter the color, it seems, also considering the service it was in.
Some cars appear to have a heavy brown cast, however.
Knowing that most folks prefer factory fresh models and to weather from there, and the 1950s era, I gave them an accurate diesel maroon chip. Orange handrails appear to be the minority of wooden hacks, so the Railworks cars will have yellow handrails. The Railworks cars will be lettered, but not numbered. Decals will be included for the numbers. The pilot models are expected in March, and the production cars in June or July.