Last night I made my first diesel purchases in the form of a couple S Helper Services NW1 switchers, got a good deal out the door with sound and DCC, now the delima, what do for a proto freelanced scheme for these tykes. My first thought is of a SP style black and tiger stripes with Cirtus Belt lettering, or AT&SF black and aluminum with comparable private road lettering, as a plus decals are available in S for both schemes. Or to go truly orginal with the design. decisions, decisions, what would you do?
A little more information would help. From above I see you are in S scale and have an NW-1 switcher.
Do you have an airbrush? Have you applied masking and painted locomotives before? Do you want to keep the design simple or are you interested in more complicated multi-color designs?
EMD did some fancy designs for F and E units in the immediate post-war timeframe, but these were discarded by the railroads as too expensive to maintain. Switchers tended to have more simple paint schemes as maybe they were not out in the public eye as much as road units.
I’ve done complicated masking and Airbrushing for over 40 years, I desire a simple scheme, i’m not opposed to a multi color suggestion using two colors with or without striping as long as it is plausable.
As my primary power they will be equipped with MU and roller bearings (for a price they were available directly from GSC)my reasoning is the Citrus Belt paid extra for these options to better adapt them to road service on light rails and restricted weight bridges.
There were two philosophies about how to paint diesel switchers in 1946. The first was the “black dip” paint scheme, one primary color with accent (stripes, etc.) in another color. The second philosophy was the elaborate paint schemes developed by EMD’s Art and Color Section. A railroad could follow both philosophies, like the Santa Fe, which had the Art & Color warbonnet scheme on E and F units, and the “black dip” scheme on switchers.
In 1946 EMD had just started to build switchers after WWII and was aggressively going after the business. They might “sweeten” the offer with a custom paint scheme, or even a “custom looking” paint scheme. But the paint scheme was up to the railroad, so the railroad could ask for black with tiger stripes after seeing the orange, red, and green rendition from Art and Color.
Art & Color did some interesting paint schemes that were never used. They did some elaborate paint schemes for the Pennsylvania, but the PRR stuck with brunswick green and pinstripes.
And what’s interesting, the Monon actually had the same Warbonnet Stencil (n black/cream) for a little while on it’s RS and the lone H10 before switching to the DePauw/Wabash schemes, and EMD had also reccomended them a colorscheme that became KCS, one that became Soo, and a hybrid of the two, with the red/yellow/black nose and a white tail. So you don’t hav to be restricted to the West.
If you go the route of a used scheme, I’d gowith whomever you’ll do the most business with, SP or ATSF. shows loyalty to your partner. Then again though, I do highly encourage freelance schemes.
Were it me, I’m seeing an Emerald or Forest Green and Orange, probably with the orange being a center stripe. Bt it’s awful close to GN. I’d say flip it, but then your getting near EJ&E territory.
I’ve got a Globe car that looks nice in an aluminum silver with an orange stripe, here’s two reccomendations frm Jefferson Locomotive Works
(from rrpaintshop.com, original credits for line drawings included)
Green and orange with some yellow or some variation would pay hommage to my primary customer base. I"ve been thinking along those lines. Now to explore some design ideas. Great ideas from all.
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