That is unusual, Tom. Why would they have pulled it out of the paint shop without finishing the nose? These are the kinds of unexplained oddities that drive a historian nuts.
That looks like PRR catenary overhead, too. The Central shared I-C trackage into Central Station at Chicago but their catenary was generally on lattice style supports. I wonder just where the photo was taken?
I can’t say for sure on the stripe color. I always presumed white but they did experiment with a silver/gray on the passenger cars. My paint and lettering diagram for an E7 from about the same era shows Dupont Duco White 254-1 and the red oval as Duco red 254-9089-R.
Heres a builders photo that pretty much confirms the longitudinal roof screens behind the cab.
I would be willing to bet that I see a Barco steam connector at the #2 end. No they didn’t have steam generators but at the time railroads sometimes specified “pass-through” steam lines on their diesels. Looks like a full diaphragm back there, too.
Perhaps the NYC was using the FTs and F2s as a test platform for the eventual development of the lightening stripe? They went from cat whisker to 3/4 stripe to full lightning stripe in about a 1-1/2 year span. (Jan '48 for 3/4 and Jun '49 for full)
We’ll see what Terry finds out about the color of the cat whisker striping…
Terry Link replied on the other forum that he didn’t have the original drawing to confirm the exact paint color of the FT & F2 cat whisker striping. He did, however, state that he was “taking the silver as accurate based on first hand observation published by the NYC in 1944”, as printed in the July '44 issue of the Central Headlight (front page). The last paragraph is as follows describing the then recently released FT A-B-B-A lash-up:
“The new freight diesel locomotives are painted black, decorated with the New York Central oval and flaring silver stripes on the aprons at each end.”
Given that the above is true: Would the striping be a bright silver, or a more dullish/oxide (aluminum) silver color? Maybe this discussion should have been split into another thread after it moved from identifying the Leslie A200 air horn. [:S]
Oh, how I wish I would have “picked the minds” of some of these fellows while they were still among us. Of course, you never really think about those “pertinent” questions until it’s too late. I used to spend hours with Mr. Vail during some of my days with the NRHS Midwest Chapter back in the late 1960s and through the '70s.
I suggest you read his thoughts here on the early painting of the 1938 Century and the mention of the Dupont Dulux Silver Gray 95-7581 striping. A Pullman paint and lettering book mentions the “addition of aluminum-bronze powder to the paint prior to application” which leads me to believe that some of this stuff was mixed just prior to use. Was an exact measure used each time?
Mr. Vail mentions the first group of E7s had silver gray striping (four DPA-1A units, two completely different paint styles).
I see no reason that NYC wouldn’t use the same on the “experimental” FT and F2 painting.
This reminds me of a lengthy discussion on the “silver/white/gray” of the Nickel Plate PA-1 “Bluebirds”. Which actually boils down to “depends” as it changed over the years from the factory paint used by Alco to the several repaintings by NKP.
