Firstly thanks to all who gave information on Roof colour for Gt Nothern Passenger Cars. My next question is what colour is Empire Green? Is this a darker or lighter version of Pullman gree and when did the Gt Northern start to apply this colour to it’s stock. Was this a frieght only colour or was it only found on the Empire builder.
Many thanks in advance for your help
Alex
I’m not sure if this will answewr your question but check the Dec.‘91’ issue of MR. theres a great color centerfold there.
This is one of those questions that can lead into philosophical discussions.
According to an article in MR several years ago, dealing with the restoration
of the FT demonstrator, EMD 103, it was stated that there are something like
25 to 30 different shades of what is called Pullman Green. The version that
Great Northern used is darker and more browni***han, for example, Floquil
Pullman green. Pollyscale (Floquil acrylic paint) makes a ‘Great Northern’
green which I find to be quite close. A thing to remember is on real equipment,
the paint will fade-or darken-as it ages. Plus, the fact that different lots of the
same catalog number of paint can vary in shade as well can affect what one is
trying to match. Because of the fade issue, there is a little wiggle room.
GN Empire Builder green was used on all diesel locomotives up to April of 1967
when the railroad made their strange change to Big Sky Blue. It was also
used on some freight equipment and all passenger cars up until that change
too.
Many thanks guys
Alex
Ah, but then the question is…when did they go to orange and black for freight engines? jc5729
The answer is-never. Great Northern always used orange and green for
their equipment. On switchers and road switchers everything from the
walkways down was black, but the hoods remained in orange and green.
Milwaukee Road used orange and black. Occasionally, the green on GN
equipment weathered and darkened, but black was not used.
GN always used green and orange, originally with yellow stripes separating the colors. The yellow striping stopped being used when GN went to the simplified paint scheme in 1962. GN also used the same paint scheme on freight or passenger engines. Some other railroads had different paint schemes for freight and passenger engines, for example NP used dark / light green on passenger diesels, and black / yellow on freight or switch engines.
BNSF revived a version of the EB scheme in the nineties using orange and green, in the last year they announced a modified version with the new ‘swoosh’ logo that is orange and black.