BL2. now what

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

so I bought a P2K BL2. (Bachmann has one coming soon). the back story since I model modern era. is that one of the short lines was cash strapped and needed some horseys at the time on the market was that Thing. Although a long list of errors exist for them, it was still an F unit inside with the reliability. just useless for alot or everything else. it led to the geep. The short line found this thing and the fire sale price was hard to pass up. Now I need a cheap type but decent paint job for it. I though slapover. but not so much interested in that. the idea of something like erie mining type paint. This is a hard unit to come up with a paint job for cause it is such an odd shape. Thought I would ask if anybody had ideas. ACL had a few too so purple isnt out of the realm either.

Shane

2

My one-and-only BL2 is factory painted in Western Maryland basic black. That’s fine for me as this is the way I remember seeing the engine still working in Hagerstown yard in the mid-1970.

Here’s a few examples you might find a liking to?

West by the Shops by Michael W Sullivan, on Flickr

BL2 by Todd Dillon, on Flickr

BAR BL2 on Display in Bangor by Maine Coast Railfan, on Flickr

Janesville & Southeastern 52 by Barry Moore, on Flickr

I’ve always been partial to the C&O ‘bow-wave’ version:

BL-2 EMD diesel by Jerry Casper, on Flickr

The above is a simplified style without the yellow wave.

Good Luck, Ed

3

The examples Ed posted all look great.

Whatever you do, do not make the same mistake I made. Do not follow the body lines. Make the colors horizontal like in Ed’s examples.

This is one of the many N scale Stratton And Gillette BL-2s I painted.

-Photograph by Kevin Parson

I simply love the BL-2. I do not yet own an HO scale model. I will probably get a brass model and power it with one of my Proto-Power-West F unit chassis.

-Kevin

4

Here’s what that bow wave shoulda lqqked like…

and when I am ready, this is what my BL2’s will look like.

Here’s another shot at a BL2 scheme (i have a few of these models - lovem!)…

One of my ‘secondary’ lines with a bit more work to do. ( the white body lines are white for ease of sight - not actually in the paint job)

As you can see, you isnt the only one working on BL2 paint schemes. I stuck with the straight lines on the latter, but a bow wave isnt a straight line.

Either way, straight or with the body lines, i can go with either if the design looks good.

PMR

5

had The thought of solid grey with 3 foot wide orange stripe. Or maybe cnj colors. Or nyc pacemaker grey red

6

Got a question for you guys on mult-colored locomotives, or passenger cars for that matter. When painting, how do you decide which color to paint first and which last.

Does it depend upon the color or the shape and location of the different colors?

Rich

7

Since light colors are hard to paint over dark colors, I have always used the start with light to dark. After the light grey primer coat.

shane

8

Hello All,

The BS&P livery is gloss black with orange safety stripes.

Basic and simple.

The Rotary Snow Plow M.O.W. train needed some extra HP so a used BL2 was purchased from the Western Maryland R.R.

The livery on this WM unit is gloss black with yellow horizontal pinstriping, yellow lettering, and the “Fireball” herald.

It was an easy conversion to paint over the yellow and the “Fireball” herald and add a BS&P herald.

Safety strips were added to the nose and tail with water slide decals.

Hope this helps.