Railroad Paint Schemes

I originally posted these on my old website on June 22, 2008.

These graphics are all real railroad paint schemes on equipment that actually wore it. In some cases they are unique experimental or one-off paint schemes. All of these are based on drawings from the Railroad Paint Shop.

American Freedom Train

This is, of course, Southern Pacific GS4 #4449 in its American Freedom Train colors, which it wore in the 1970s, and then wore again in the early 2000s.

Chesapeake & Ohio

Chesapeake & Ohio had perhaps the best paint scheme to fit the shape of EMD's unusual BL2 locomotive.

EMD

The paint scheme of EMD's BL1 Demonstrator was very fitting for the unusual locomotive.

Chicago & North Western

Chicago & North Western GP40 #5511.

Denver & Rio Grande Western

Denver & Rio Grande Western GP40 #3051.

Missouri - Kansas - Texas

Missouri - Kansas - Texas GP40 #207

Portland & Western

Portland & Western Railroad GP39-2 #2317 is actually named Tigard, but at the time I made this I didn't know that, or it hadn't been painted yet, so I named it Rainier after my hometown.

Southern Pacific

This is Southern Pacific GS4 #4449 in its postwar Daylight paint scheme, which it also wore for most of its excursion career.

Southern Pacific GP9 #5623 it its original Black Widow paint scheme, it which it is now preserved at the Pacific Locomotive Association's Niles Canyon Railway.

Picture of the real SP #5623 from its official website

Southern Pacific GP35R #6316 in the Scarlet and Grey scheme.

Picture of the real SP #6316 from the Nor-Cal SP Connection

Southern Pacific GP35R #6354 in the Kodachrome scheme.

Picture of the real SP #6354 from the Espee Modelers Homepage

Spokane, Portland & Seattle

Spokane, Portland & Seattle FA1 #857 in one of the SP&S's experimental paint schemes.

Picture of the real SP&S #857 from Mike Clark's Rails Northwest

Spokane, Portland & Seattle FA1 #860 in another of the SP&S's experimental schemes.

Picture of the real SP&S #860 from RailPictures.net

Spokane, Portland & Seattle RS1 #53 in an experimental paint scheme that is basically the regular scheme with the colors reversed.

Picture of the real SP&S #53 from Mike Clark's Rails Northwest

Spokane, Portland & Seattle RS3 #97 in the most unusual of the SP&S experimental paint schemes. The light blue and white colors weren't used on any other SP&S equipment.

Picture of the real SP&S #97 from Mike Clark's Rails Northwest

Train of Tomorrow

In 1947, General Motors built a promotional passenger train called the Train of Tomorrow. This train consisted of one of GM's new E7A passenger diesel-electric locomotives and four state of the art passenger cars. GM didn't build railcars, so the cars themselves were build by Pullman-Standard, but they were packed with modern technology from various General Motors divisions, including Detroit Diesel, Frigidaire and Delco. The train was styled by GM's own Harley Earl, painted in a dark green-blue with a band of stainless steel fluting below the window level, and each of the four cars featured a glass dome on a raised floor in the center of the car, giving passengers a nearly unobstructed view in any direction. Before the Train of Tomorrow cars, only one dome car had yet been built, and the Train of Tomorrow pioneered the idea of the Dome Dining Car and Dome Sleeping Car. The train toured the United States before being sold to the Union Pacific Railroad, who used the train in regular service between Portland and Seattle into the 1960s.