What is the lastest that you have seen BN locos in the paint of their predecessors? (GN,NP,CB&Q, SP&S)
The very last pre-BN locomotive repainted into Cascade Green was RS3 4064, formerly SP&S 79, on August 24, 1977. So that would be the end of sighting pre-merger paint schemes. I, myself was seeing such paint through 1976, though rarely. Most of these were ex-GN switchers in Big Sky Blue that late-and they were looking pretty ragged. That blue paint just never adhered correctly to the orange and green beneath it. There’s ample photographic proof that GN did not use primer on these repaints.
Seven years – not bad. It would be nice to see some of today’s railroads repainting their locomotives that quickly!
Soo-MILW 1986
CP-SOO 1991?
UP-CNW 1995
UP-SP 1996
BN-SF 1995 (though they had a hard time settling on ONE paint scheme)
C&O-B&O into Chessie System 1972 (still a C&O engine running around!)
Well, at least we still get to see some of the “fallen flags” running around!
For a year after the Burlington Northern merger it was something to see a BN painted unit. 5 years after the merger it was becoming harder to find a predecessor paint. The railroad did patch the locos with the letters BN and the unit number until they repainted them.
I took these photos at Clyde in 1972
Great pics.