Looking at those 2 pictures briefly you might not notice the one very significant difference between them. As most can tell the top picture is taken along the former Erie railroad while the bottom one is taken of a locomotive of the former Victorian Railways.
My question to anyone that might know is which of these 2 rail companies actually invented the scheme? I assumed it was the Erie and that the VR copied it. I draw that conclusion from the fact that the Erie’s F units were in service before any of VR’s streamlined diesels.
However i had forgotten about the VR’s streamlined S class steam locomotives that were streamlined during 1936 - 1937 and during that period they were painted in the blue and gold scheme with the wings (much like the photos above but suited for a steam engine). Havent found a proper photo online of it yet.
I know that the Erie had F units in this scheme at least by 1948 but when exactly did this blue and gold scheme come about and by whom? I havent come across any photos of Erie locomotives in this scheme before the mid to late 1940’s. There must be some Erie fans out there with info about the scheme and where it came from.
I believe the VR scheme was derived directly from the Erie scheme. The leading locomotive you picture is either a B class (1953) or S class (1958) – I don’t know VR spotting characteristics well enough to know the difference at sight. The man who designed the B class was a known admirer of American practice. You may remember that the 4-8-4 styling was derived from the PRR T1. Stands to reason they’d pick an attractive scheme to use on their EMD-pattern nose… and they had a good range of American choices ‘ready to hand’ by the early '50s.
The leading locomotive in the previous picture is a B class. It is being trailed by 3 L class electric locomotives. The easy spotting feature that distinguishes the S and B classes is the B is double ended. It has the same streamlined cab at either end of the locomotive.
Of all the state railways in Australia, the Victorian Railways in particular took a definite following of US practice, albiet all on broad (5’3") gauge. All of VR main diesel locomotives have been EMD products built under licence locally.
This photo here shows 2 of the streamlined S class steam locomotives taken during the late '30s. The wings are clearly visible and these locomotives were already wearing the blue and gold livery. As far as i can tell this pre-dates the Erie livery, although it was altered to suit the B class diesels. Since the VR already had a scheme consisting of royal blue with gold wings and gold trim in about 1937 was it sheer coincidence that the Erie also had the same colours and wings? I know its not unlikely given the popularity of wings at the time, and if so then i’d say it was a good find for VR because these liveries look stunning on a clean shiny cab diesel.
Aha, I’d forgotten to mention this… The Erie’s colors are black and gold, not the blue and gold of VR. Only the patterns are the same. (It’s the black-and-white pix that are causing some of the problem).
I was privileged to be in Oz at the time of what I recall to be the 25th anniversary of the B class (summer of '77 is when it was) and met the person who had designed them. His name I remember as David Clapp. I was wearing my little EMD pin in my lapel, and he was overjoyed to see that ‘someone from La Grange’ had come to the celebration… I didn’t have the heart, and still wouldn’t today, to tell him I wasn’t “officially” there from the factory.
I considered then, and still do, that the B’s are one of the best examples of ‘E-unit’ carbody design – even if they do have those funky Flexicoil trucks (yes, yes, I know they were needed for three traction motors apiece).
Of course, I liked the Alco “World Locomotive” carbody locomotives even better – almost as stylish as a full PA, even before you get to the back and see the second cab… one great experience I got to have (IIRC) was riding the cab of one of these from Melbourne up toward Sydney – I got down at Albury and Very Nearly Missed the Train because nobody on the sleepers was expecting me to come back there! A little frantic pounding, fortunately, produced an open door…
Overmod could not have met the designer as he was not at the anniversary. The design was undertaken by Clyde engineering and the Victorian Railways engineers in consultation with EMD engineers. The “Clapp” referred to is Harold Clapp who was responsible for the introduction of the streamlining of the S class pacific locomotives in the late 30’s. The first “B” class diesel locomotive B60 was named in honor of him. The original bogies were plate sided and later they were sometimes fitted with cast flexicoil bogies.
