When did NP switch to the Lowery two tone green paint scheme on its passenger diesels and cars?
1953, as per William Kuebler, Jr’s “Northern Pacific Color Pictorial, Vol:3”
Dan
Just to help you in your internet searches, note that it’s “Loewy”, not Lowery. Raymond Loewy was the designer NP used.
How long after the Loewy (thanks for the spell check) scheme was adopted, did the “Christmas tree” scheme remain?
I don’t know that anyone knows a specific date. The NP introduced Loewy scheme cars into the NCL as the cars were delivered, so you wouldn’t seen the NCL in the old scheme one day and the Loewy scheme the next. It was a transition over time.
I don’t recall seeing a photo of the NCL with the silver Budd Slumbercoaches and a car with the old scheme. The Slumbercoaches started being on the train 11/30/1959, so at least by then the NCL cars had all been repainted.
I suspect an all-Loewy NCL or Mainstreeter would have been the norm by say 1956 or so, as NCL and Mainstreeter were their top trains. The older scheme might have lasted on older cars used on local trains or like baggage or RPO cars etc. A 1919 heavyweight coach painted into the first streamlined scheme in 1951 might not have been considered worth repainting after the Loewy scheme came about because it was so close to retirement.