What ever happened to New England Central’s GP40s? They had 3, now they only have 1. The two that are no longer on property were in NECR blue and gold. If RA moved them to another railroad, what was the reasoning behind that? NECR has locos from other railroads on it’s property. Why not just keep the locos where they are and avoid the costs of shuffling them around.
Just out of curiosity - is there a chance that any locomotive working on a RailAmerica line will ever receive a coat of paint in the “heritage” colors that the specific railroad used before being assimilated? I’d love to see NECR’s SD40’s repainted. Heck, I don’t care what the paint scheme is - I just like a “standardized” appearance. Paint may not pay the bills - but a railroad that likes to represent itself as a unified corporation (aka P&W) is much more likely to get my business in comparison to a company who can care less what their appearance is.
Does RA even have a “standard” paint scheme? I’m guessing it’s between the Red, Silver, and Blue, or the Red-Gray of CORP. Those seem to be the most common repaints…
I can’t say I have an answer, but . . . .
I agree that having a unified paint scheme is a good thing. I’d say it should be 80% the same, 20% customized to the particular road (maybe a particular color stripe, and probably the local roads name). I think it makes sense to keep locomotives assigned to certain areas/assimilaed railroads, because that way you’re not spending time moving the locos around, and you know what you have for power on a regular basis. If the schemes are 80% the same, if power does get traded around a bit, either temporarily while a unit is down for service, or larger/smaller power is brought in, the difference shouldn’t be that noticeable. It’s like parking a 2000 Ford truck next to a 2005 ford truck. They’re different, but people should be able to recognize both as Fords.
The problem with specific, or heritage paint jobs is that for one reason or another, locomotives don’t always stay on the railroad line for which they’ve been painted. THen you’ve got the situation where you’ve got a random-looking assortment of locomoives running around together, and the railroad doesn’t look as organized or professional. They may all be nice-looking, well-painted locomoives, but it lacks the feeling of a “unified corporation.”
Its like you can eiher have road-specific units, that for a while stay nice and organized, but eventually degrade into a mish-mosh of paint schemes, or you can have one paint scheme on everyhing, so that its all the same, all the time, and always looks neat and organized.
If I ever owned a railroad, I might try and take a hint from Uhaul. Lots of their trucks have paintings of different destinations or attractions on the side of them. The trucks are still white with the orange stripe. But the different paintings on the sides provide variety. I think I might look for an easy paint scheme, maybe with a lone
Since Rail America is moving headquarters to FEC’s headquarters in Jacksonville maybe the FEC will be the controlling carrier in paint and repairs of motive power.
Although a good thought, I don’t see that happening. I think it’s more likely that FEC will end up looking like every other RA property. Word has it that the NYSW SD70M’s on lease to IORY will be on their way to Florida shortly, in exchange for some FEC SD40-2’s that will head to Ohio. Plus, FEC doesn’t have much of a “unified” identity itself. The GP38s/40s in “their” scheme, the SD40-2’s in UP paint, and the SD70M-2’s in ARR paint.
It wouldn’t make since to ship locos from Vermont to Florida to be repaired. NECR has their own shops. I believe most of the lines that are grouped together share shops and dispatching centers - i.e. NECR does the work for CSOR, and they share equipment. IORY, CFE, CIND, and the other Ohio-based lines all share locos and shops.
Just my [2c], but who knows what the acquistion of FEC and change of headquarters will mean for the RA lines.