Milwaukee Road Paint Colors

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I was curious when and why Milwaukee Road had a Yellow /Gray color scheme like the Union Pacific? Was there some kind of connection?

I thought the Milwaukee was always orange and black?

Or orange and brown/gray for the steam era.

Thanks,

Mark

2

In 1955 the UP moved their ‘City’ trains from the C&NW to Milw rails between Chicago and Omaha. Initially a limted number of Milw passenger cars were painted so that Milw trains on the Iowa Division would match. They also purchased new ‘ABA’ sets of E9’s for this service. After a few years, they noticed that the Armour Yellow cars weathered better, so the entire passenger fleet was scheduled to be repainted in the UP paint scheme. Even some FM depot switchers and at least 3 TT passenger GP9’s wound up in the ‘City’ paint scheme. I remember as late as 1967 seeing some head-end cars, and at least one passenger F booster in the old orange/maroon paint scheme.

Jim Bernier