While net-surfing, I found this historic FTA diesel loco pictured in two different GM-EMD color schemes as #103. The original was in green and yellow. The restored loco at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation appears to be in maroon and yellow. Both have nearly identical GM Electro Motive lettering and striping. Between these two color schemes, I also understand this loco operated as Southern Railway #6100 in tuxedo black colors for @20 years. Does anyone know the reason for the difference in the GM-EMD color schemes between the original and the restored loco?
As far as I know the restored EMD FT 103 cab unit is painted in dark green and yellow. The colours are basically the same as the original. Unless it has been repainted very recently, it was certainly green and yellow at its appearances at EMD for its fiftieth anniversary, and so on.
Do you have a link to the ‘maroon’ pic?? I suspect it’s just a trick of the light, unless they were repainting it to B&M colors for some reason - Boston & Maine’s first F’s used the same striping pattern only in maroon and gold rather than Pullman green like the FT103 demonstrator.
If I remember correctly, the demonstrator A-B+B-A set was sold to the Southern to fill part of their order for FT’s in 1941 or early '42. One of the A units was preserved and eventually became the A unit restored to the demonstrator paintscheme in the eighties. The FT B unit used was loaned from another RR museum, and eventually went back there. The B unit wasn’t from the original demonstrator units however it was an early FT-B.
These pics were taken at the EMD anniversary shindig back in the eighties, maybe the same day. I have the video that shows the restoration of FT 103 and the open house EMD had that weekend. They moved a lot of engines around taking pics of different engines side-by-side. If you look carefully at the first pic you can tell that the ‘maroon’ is actually a reflection of a (I presume) red engine next to the FT, just out of the picture to the left. (If you look at the rear 10-15’ of the FT A unit you can see the reflection pretty clearly.)
Remember at this point the unit’s paint was only a few days old and still very shiny and reflective.
I’ve seen the 103 at the museum in St. Louis, and it’s definitely green and not maroon. In fact, to my eye neither of those images on the Web is true to the locomotive’s actual color, which is a brownish green very much like the Great Northern’s “Pullman Green” as used on the “Empire Builder.” The older photo is a little too bright a green, and the later photo is a little too dark (also it doesn’t appear to be maroon on my Mac’s screen).
Apparently my eyes, and maybe my computer’s color interpretation, have deceived me. And if the color is off in both these photos, any recommendation as to the best source (other than the real thing in St. Louis of course) for a proper color picture?
It’s hard to say, since a picture that looks ‘right’ to me might not look right to you!! Pullman Green is a very dark green, I think (again just my opinion) Badger/Accuflex Pullman Green is pretty accurate. There are a few color pics taken of FT-103 during 1939-40 but the units often look almost black in them.
I think it’s Mark I Video that produced the “FT-103” video, that has some pics/film of the original, and a detailed story on the restoration, including quite a bit showing the unit being sprayed and masked off. That shows the unit in a variety of lighting conditions so (short of being there) might be the best bet to see what the color looks like.
