I am looking for pictures of diesel locomotives of the CNW from the '50’s. These particular units were painted in an “experimental green” livery. They had only a yellow stripe on the length of the frame. The experiment didn’t last long and the CNW went back to green and yellow.
I found the 1639 GP7. But I read there were more. Does anyone have any of these pictures or know where I can find them? I appreciate it!
Don Ball’s book “America’s Railroads” has a picture of a CNW train with a RS-? (Alco) in the solid green paint. The photo is dated from September of 1966.
You have to wonder about the inspiration for that paint scheme. My guess would be that it was thought to be cheaper to apply (less colors, less masking, etc.) and wouldn’t show dirt / look dirty as easily as the yellow did.
Those ideas unfortunately overlook 2 big downside items. Here in the upper midwest, for about 6 months of the year, everything is green. That paint scheme would be pretty good camouflage for a train approaching a grade crossing. It also seems to be dark here about 1/2 the time and again, dark green at night wouldn’t help visibility so much.
I’m glad that paint scheme didn’t go too far. I have similar feelings about the zito yellow paint scheme (not a big fan.) I’ll always find it ironic that a Chicago based RR shared their green and gold paint scheme colors w/ the Green Bay Packers. God’s chosen RR meets God’s chosen football team (but that’s just my very humble opinion.)
The scheme debuted in 1963 if I recall correctly- other units that wore the scheme besides the 1639 were:
GP9 1739
H16-66 1698
RS3 406
RSD5 1690
The scheme was indeed tried out as a money saving option to the yellow/green the CNW was using at the time- and “dip job” paint schemes were beginning to show up on other lines as a cost cutting measure too. I may be missing one or two others on the list- but it wasn’t many that got the dip. Thankfully the scheme was only experimental due to visibility concerns and the CNW went back to their yellow and green scheme minus the chevrons.
The CNW FA2s were not painted in the experimental scheme- they wore their GE demonstrator scheme of green with a white stripe which was modified by the CNW removing the GE logo and lettering and simply substituting a “C&NW” on the white stripe. They were repainted into yellow and green after about a year and were off the roster before the all green dip scheme showed up.
thanks for the input. I have bookmarked this page. I’m hoping to have seen all the green units. So if you run by the link of them and you remember this thread, don’t forget to post [:D]