Hello,
Please, advise me if A.T.&S.F. had black and yellow,(no other colors thrown in the mix), diesel locomotives, as the type that Lionel put on the market in the early '70’s with their GP7/9’s?
I would appreciate any help with this question.
Thank You,
Ralph
Which type of engine are you talking? I do know ATSF did experimental yellow and silver war bonnet F units. There may of been others. There may of been some black freight diesels with yellow zebra stripes. The MPC geeps of the early 70’s were blue and yellow freight schemes. None were black. It was a dark flat blue and appears black.
The GP-20’s(8352 & 8355) are blue.
My 8250 & 8255 GP-9’s are as black as black gets(not a hint of blue - exact same color as the 8031 GP-7), with yellow lettering & ends, & no zebra stripes. Every one I’ve seen or seen described is black.
They were not known to be painted that way(black/yellow) by the ATSF.
Rob
John,
Thank you for your reply and info., my diesels are early '70’s Lionel ‘O’ gauge #6-8250 power and #6-8255 dummy, both GP 9s, but when the air tanks on top are removed they become GP 7s, the power unit has one traction tire, pullmor motor, forward, neutral and reverse, a headlight at each end, blank number boards which are illuminated by the interior bulb, oprerating. self centering knuckle couplers of die-cast metal and two die-cast metal trucks containing four wheels each.
I know Lionel is regarded as less than high end model railroading, but I thought that the black and yellow ends, besides the Santa Fe blue and yellow, was also another color scheme of ATSF’s freight work horses.
One color photo of what appears to be black with a yellow war bonnet, must be what you pointed out, because it’s difficult to see the true colors in the photo.
Again, Thank You,
Ralph
ADCX Rob,
We have the same engines, but are you saying that ATSF did have BLACK and YELLOW war bonnet, with yellow lettering, diesels in addition to their blue and yellow, black with white stripes and/or red and silver?
Please, advise me.
Thank You,
Ralph
These are not ATSF “Warbonnet” paint schemes, they are referred to as ATSF “Billboard”.
They were not known to be painted black with yellow by the ATSF. This seems to have been Lionel’s interpretation of the blue & yellow “Billboard” design. There was talk years ago that Lionel had leftover unpainted shells from the 8031 and decorated them for the Santa Fe, but that defies common sense based on the production numbers & availability of both the 8031(& 8258 dummies) and the black ATSF GP-9 and their dummies.
Rob
ADCX Rob,
Thank you, you’re correct, my mistake I should have looked at my diesels to see the ends are yellow, as in your photo.
I guess Lionel pulled another black with red war bonnet F3 trick, as the late '40’s, or there abouts.
But, they do look good even if not prototypical.
Ralph
As simple as they are, they are among my favorites.
Rob
You are missing one traction tire.
Both geared wheels should have traction tires… these engines did have a tendency to throw them off, especially when used with a dummy.
Rob
ADCX Rob,
Yes, you’re right, I should’ve remembered that there are two traction tires, but when I looked them over last week one fell off, not from wear and tear, but from keeping them in my attic, so now I’ll have to replace both tires.
Thank You,
They Are Great!
Ralph
Ooooops! I have a set of GP-20’s and was thinking GP-20’s! They are a dark blue that comes of as black under lighting conditions. I too have been looking at GP-9’s on the bay and they look the same hue as GP-20’s! Looking at the 8250 in the TM book, there is definately a tint of blue in light reflection. The book quotes some collectors call it dark blue. Like Train O says, hard to tell. As far as zebra stripes go, I raised the question if the real Santa-Fe had yellow safety stripes on some diesels.
John,
I have seen a color photo of a black Santa Fe diesel with white safety stripes on it’s nose, I’m not too familiar with the model, it has a squred nose and I didn’t save it, so, I’m unable to tell you where to find it, sorry.
Ralph
Train-o …" I know Lionel is regarded as less than high end model railroading " … that statement really depends on which grade of lionel engines you buy … the Cowen and LIONMASTER high end engines blow away any other manufacturer in detail ! Same for the building of layouts … you can get the plunk down buildings and signals or scratch build extremely high detailed layouts . The modern tmcc and legacy engines are fabulous … if you want to pay the mega bucks .
Ole Timer,
You’re correct, my appologies for having typed that.
Ralph.
I took it you meant high end fine scale of brass variety with road specific detail and expertly correct paint schemes costing 3 times Lionel’s best.