Passenger Car Interior Colors

I am in the process of building a Erie Lackawanna HO train setup principally set up in the 1960's era.

I've hit a stumbling block that I hope that you can assist me with.

I recently bought a set of eight smooth side Lackawanna gray and maroon (vista dome, baggage, coach, combine, dinner, observation, RPO,and sleeper) passenger cars from International Hobby Corporation that have a separate interior kit for them. All of the interior pieces are a bright red with light blue wall and accessories. Are these the correct colors? If not, what should the interior colors of the passenger cars on the Erie Lackawanna have been in that era? I attached a photo of the interior and the observation car interior as an example.

You might ask the Erie-Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society. Here's their URL: http://www.eldcps.org
Of course, the Lackawanna never had any dome cars, but you probably knew that.

Yeah, it's a shame there were never any dome cars. What rides they would have been: Cut-Off, Gap, up the Pocono's, Scranton-Binghamton, Western New York.... Wow.

Don't forget a semaphore to represent 2242! I'm getting mine from Integrated Signal Systems. He'll custom paint one for ya- FREE! It was based on 2242.

This raises a question bugging me for some time - did EL, or Erie or DL&W for that matter, carry dedicated, honest-to-God RPO cars? I know they carried mail as head-end business, but did either road, and then EL, actually own and operate RPOs? And what about combines? I don't think so on that one.

Taber has pictures of Lackawanna combines. In fact, he says 15 combines were included in the MU fleet. He also talks about RPO cars. His roster lists RPO-baggage and straight RPO cars.

No doubt Taber is THEE source on these matters. I have the "20th Century" book and will have to check, because I have no recollection of any RPOs being mentioned. When I thought of combines, I was thinking of main-line gear, not MU equipment.

The EL and the Erie in "modern" times carried a working RPO between New York and Salamanca. The stamp cancellation was "N.Y and Sala." or something similar. It ran up to the mid-to-late 1960s. These cancellations turn up on eBay, from time to time.

I also saw a cancellation on eBay, from around the turn of the (last) century, that was Salamanca & Dunkirk (I think).

JR