Hi Guys,
I’ve noticed that some manufacturers have produced certain models in various paint schemes and have used the same engine number for the different schemes. For instance, E-R Model Imports produced the Alco FA-1 unit in HO scale with several paint schemes for the New Haven railroad…green/gold, warm orange/green, and the McGinnis scheme which is orange, black and white. They used the same engine number 0415 for the green/gold engine and the McGinnis. I thought a railroad would not use the same engine number for the same type of engine, even though the paint scheme is different. Am I correct and therefore E-R Models goofed?
In this case the models represent the same locomotive, no. 0415, in two different paint schemes. This kind of thing happened often, whenever a railroad changed its paint scheme without renumbering its locomotives.
Hi Andy,
Nice to “talk” to you again.
So, if I understand you correctly, it’s not okay for me to run both engines with the same number on my layout, one in the green/gold scheme and the other in the McGinnis because actually the number 0415 is the same engine, just at different time periods and painted in different colors?
I don’t want to “go to jail” on a “running the same engine number rap”.
Thanks again,
Mondo
most locomotives from the factory don’t have prototype numbers anyway…what i do is look up a railroad and the locomotive i want to model at www.rr-fallenflags.org and then take a trip to my LHS and get the micro scale decal set for the engine i want to model…I then remove the decals and the paint where the numbers go, repaint it and then re decal it…you can also get the numbers if you have a current train roster from any particular railroad…be sure you do a little checking before you purchase a locomotive …i bought two GP-50’s that had a “Rio Grande” paint scheme just to find out later, the Rio Grand never purchased any GP-50’s, so now, i’m going to have to strip them down and change them to UP locomotives that did purchase them from EMD because i didn’t research the locomotives well enough before making the purchase…chuck
Since my roads (B&O and CSX) have extensive online photo galleries, I always print a photo of any loco I want to model/purchase. If I can’t find an image of the ‘factory numbered’ unit, I carefully redo the the number.
Hi, Mondo.
Lots of railroads repainted locomotives without changing the numbers. Some changed the numbers without repainting the locos.
CN bought FPand FPA units in a green paint scheme, later made it a green and black. The new image (in the 60s) had them painted red front and black behind. VIA took the same locos and painted them blue with yellow nose. Most of them kept the same numbers all the way through, (some #s were changed when units were modified) and some of them have the same numbers on, say, the Napa Valley Wine train.
On the other hand, CN’s RDC may have had up to 3 numbers: D200 became D100 then 6100; stayed 6100 for Via.
Depends how far you wanna go, if your not that serious in operations, leave it.
But if I were to buy several locomotives from the same manufacturer, obviously I will renumber them.
Why I like LL in their steamers offering different numbers. Very cool of them to do that.