Repainting/renumbering???

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Spotted a rather color-clashing bit of loco repainting this afternoon at the east end of the engine tracks in UP’s Proviso Yard near Chicago. There was an ex-SP EMD SD unit there, still in the SP dark grey body with red ends scheme, with the “Southern Pacific” lettering still visible on the side (not painted over, just dirty). Right under the cab window was a bright Armour yellow rectangle with the UP red-orange unit number on it. Gotta admit, red numbers on a yellow background on a grey loco with deep red ends isn’t the most pleasant color combination, but it sure is eye-catching, considering how drab the typically-dirty SP units seemed to be in ordinary usage! (Even the ex-Conrail units now renumbered for CSX that I see across the street from home look better than that, since they now have CSX yellow-on-dark-blue renumbering rectangles on top of Conrail lighter blue cab sides.) Just one person’s humble opinion/comment.

Alan
Evergreen Park, IL

2

I posted a ? in the wrong area maybe you can help.NS&CXS changed numbers on Conrail power when they took over why do they do that?

3

Two possibilities come to mind:

  1. potential duplication/overlap with numbering of existing units of NS’s or CSX’s own, or…

  2. bringing all similar-model units into the same number series (regardless of heritage) for easier employee identification on the road, etc.

4

I realize that the economics of the situation dictate that they certainly can’t afford to pull a unit “off-line” just to get it completely repainted into the new owner’s colors, at least until it’s sent to the shops for major work/overhaul. It’s just that it was such an “eye-grabbing” patch of color on the side of the grey ex-SP unit that it seemed worthy of comment. I suppose that, instead of just using some grey to blank out the old SP number and then restenciling the new UP number in its place in white, this is a rather subtle (?) way of showing people (at least the knowledgeable ones) that this is now a UP unit, regardless of the logo on the long hood or the existing color scheme.

5

What would you suggest they do?

6

I see a lot of these around Fort Worth, TX. The contrast is made even more drastic by the fosfroescent nature of the UP decals used for these numbers. However, I consider myself lucky to still see these unusual schemes because I know it will not be long before all the SP locos go the way of MoPac, Western Pacific, et.al. and become merely additional members of the UP fleet, indistinguishable from all other UP locos. Take some pictures, because they surely will soon be only a faint memory.
Ron

7

I suspect the real reason is that the shop just has paint etc. in UP colors. (I have also seen a few yellow compartment doors etc on units in SP paint.)