Is there anyone else out there that prefers the Great Northern Big Sky scheme over the old Omaha Orange/Pullman Green?
I notice that Walthers Life-Like P2K is releasing a U-boat and GP20 in Big Sky colors in the coming months. And Athearn has been putting out rolling stock in those colors.
There are at least two of us. I think BSB was terrific, one of the 5 best former paint schemes in the United States. The majority of railfans seem to prefer darker, more subdued schemes like the earlier GN one.
The Milwaukee Road and Erie Lackawanna are my other favorite schemes.
Today’s paint schemes seem drab in comparison. Perhaps the best is Iowa Interstate’s.
No. Thank you very much.[}:)][swg]
The Big Sky blue scheme is what got me started modeling the Great Northern in the first place. But my first “vision” was on passenger cars. Later when I saw the silly way they did the noses of the “F” units it sort of turned me off. Then it was almost too short lived to fulfill its potential, especially for modeling purposes. The only units to never have an orange scheme and only have the blue scheme were what, the U33Cs?
As far as the cascade and orange scheme. I never figured out who thought green and orange went together in the first place. Seems like they should have sent that person to a “color 101” class.
The Indiana Railroad, the interurban and not the current regional, painted its equipment orange with green trim and the photos make the equipment look pretty sharp. This included the heavy two-man cars with railway post office compartments, the famouse high speeds, and Birneys in local urban service. I liked both GN paint schemes, since both were different than most other railroads. Other schemes I liked were the variations on red of the GM&O, the KCS’s scheme still used today, the Daylight of course, the North Shore’s Silverliner scheme, all these were outstanding. But would I want the UP to change its traditional Armor Yellow? Of course not. Of course I should mention the AT&SF “war bonnet”, but it was applied only to locomotives and thus doesn’t really count.
The few examples of Big Sky Blue that I saw, relettered and renumbered for BN but not repainted, looked sharp to me. The colors were subdued and went well together.
Agree, BSB is a winner! Though, the old GN paint scheme was not too shabby.
Blue is my favorite color, but I don’t dislike the other scheme. I just don’t think the sky blue looked good on frieght units. I like the Rock’s blue and white better.
I recall seeing that scheme on GN model F45 units back in the seventies and kind of liked it.
I never saw the BSB scheme on a locomotive. I saw one caboose in the blue scheme, but both locos (F7s) were in green and orange.
I think it depends on the train, BSB was great on the big freight diesels, especially the SDs and big U-boats, but I still like the old pumpkin on the passenger equipment. The Empire Builder looked amazing with the F7s and whole consist in the green and orange.
Cheers!
~Metro
Big Sky Blue would be my first choice for a loco painted in GN heritage colors on BNSF, because more than enough orange and pullman green is on BNSF’s roster as it is, and it would contrast better too with those “pumpkins”.
Apparently not, but I prefer the Omaha orange.
Yes its better, its a hell of alot better than i crap paint they have them painted in now, the blue was freaking sweet!
Sorry gotta tell you even though I saw the BSB growing up in Northern Montana in the late 60’s and rode the Builder in the said paint, I have always thought that it was a big step backwards in class. The orange/green/gold stripe was so elegant to go to the drab blue and too often dirty white was a step in the wrong direction. And I am pretty sure that bnsfkline2 would disagree…I think???[:P][:P][:P]
Not sure about that last statement Randy. I can’t even determine what language
bnsfkline2 is using.[;)][%-)]
I liked both GN paint schemes. The Orange/green with gold stripe was pretty classy, but the BSB was quite an eye-catcher. I have two stories, one about BSB and one about the Milwaukee Road. I don’t know if this is old news to most of you, but when the Milwaukee Road declared bankruptcy in the late 1970’s they seriously considered changing their paint scheme to a solid blue color. Thank god they did not go that way. I liked the orange and black especially with the lightning stripe.
Now back to the GN: One day when I was still selling photographic equipment, a repeat customer came in and we were talking about railroads. He told me that one of the reasons the GN stopped painting boxcars in BSB as quickly as they did was because certain “individuals” were adding a very large anatomical part (male anatomical part) to Rocky. I don’t know how many of these or if any of these were photographed, but I never saw one![:D][:I][:I][:I]
Was there any special reason that GN decided to change their familiar paint scheme?
Manegment. And man was it UGLY!!
Give me Omaha Orange and Pullman Green anyday.
[quote]
Originally posted by lrenee
I have two stories, one about BSB and one about the Milwaukee Road. I don’t know if this is old news to most of you, but when the Milwaukee Road declared bankruptcy in the late 1970’s they seriously considered changing their paint scheme to a solid blue color.
that probably would have looked a lot like either The Rock or Conrail, depending on shade of solid blue they chose.
Though The Rock’s shade of blue looked nice, that paint didn’t help them from avoiding bankruptcy and liquidation.