Alco 251 engine factory paint color ?

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Once again, I humbly call on those with knowledge. Thank you.

What color paint would Alco engine paint be ? The kind they spray down the engine block,covers and pipes etc.

Just picked up two Phanton Hobbies 3D PROTON printed Alco 251 18 cylinder engines . This will be a totally new material to work with. Kinda excited about these new engines.

Either flat car loads or emergency power or stuck inside a shell or whatever. The ebay seller also has HO EMD 567 18 cylinders engines. He did have other Alco & EMD engines available but they sold.

Just passing info on.

2

I don’t know squat, but weren’t engines just the color of the underlying metal?

3

This one isn’t in a locomotive but it is nice to look at:

Alco_Nasa by Edmund, on Flickr

American Locomotive Co. had some pretty mechanics back then.

ALCO_251 by Edmund, on Flickr

Unfortunately this is under High Pressure Sodium lighting so it has an orange tint to it.

ALCO_251cc by Edmund, on Flickr

ALCO_251cc_crop by Edmund, on Flickr

IF I were shooting a prime mover I would probably look for D&H Gray or Erie-Lackawanna gray.

My New York Central painting diagrams list the engine room color as “Dupont Duluxe Suede Gray” so that might get you in the right direction.

Good Luck, Ed

4

What are 18 cylinder EMD’s and Alco’s used for?

Grey looks like the promising color.

Ed

5

Dunno Ed. Marine engines maybe ?

Phantom hobbies 3D prints other different cylinder Alco & EMD engines. Shoot,they even print N scale GE FDL engines.

I plan on making a back up power generator set with these Alco 251 for my scrap yard. Should they lose power to the EAF. Gonna be a neat scene.

6

Hello Henry,

I just learned that at least with Alco. The customer could have a choice of paint colors. Orange,gray or a mint green color. Gonna go with a darker mint green for my power units.

Patrick

7

Edmund,

Is that the old Alco NASA Marion crawler engines ? Love that machine.

Gonna go with a darker shade of mint green for these 251’s . Thank you for the information Edmund.

Patrick

8

A few weeks ago I rode the CVSR, in their yard were some engine blocks and the ones I saw were painted green.

9

Here is a startup video. Looks like a sickly hospital green to me.

10

Yep, sure is. I seem to recall watching the crawler-transporter in operation in the movie Apollo 13 and it sure sounded like they dubbed in EMD turbo diesel sounds [%-)]

I found a Valspar* color called Flat La Fonda Mirage that makes a pretty good institutional “sea-foam” green color. Great for passenger car interiors, too.

*Rattle-can

EMD_567 by Edmund, on Flickr

Here’s some on an EMD 567.

Good Luck, Ed

Cheers, Ed

11

I’m probably a little late to this dance, but I seem to remember both gray and seafoam green on prime movers on the SP. Tamiya makes a reasonable sort of seafoam green spray paint called TS60.

https://peteratkins.com.au/cms/w/reference-form---tamiya-colour-chart-project---web.jpg