Someone please help me out with when Soo Line introduced the white with red livery… when was it and did it come before or after the red body with white lettering livery? I’m specifically interested in GP30s but broadly interested anyway. Also… decals?
Thanks in advance.
[:P]
Not being a SOO line expert, I went to the fallen flags website and the earliest photo I found of a GP30 was a 1968 photo of loco #703 and it was the white with red nose paint scheme. Going back to 1963, I found a switcher in the same paint, but a 1960 photo of an FP unit showed the all red paint scheme. Hope this helps. Ken
I believe the scheme was introduced in 1960 or 1961 When the SOO totally absorbed the WC and the DSS&A and the GP30’s were the first units to be delivered in the paint. GP7s and 9’s were painted into it along with the switchers and F units eventually. Alec
The SOO merger of the WC and DSS&A happened about 1961. The WC was ‘leased & operated’ to the SOO up until that point This was due to the 1888(??) purchase of controlling interest in SOO stock by the CP. The CP also bought the DSS&A, and it was operated as a seperate railroad, but did use some SOO facilities(passenger station) in Duluth. With the 1961 merger of the DSS&A and WC into the ‘new’ SOO, the engine paint schemes stayed at the rather ‘13D’ solid maroon that that the SOO had gone to in the late 50’s. However, they did investigate a new corparate image, and the Red/White scheme came out of that. The ‘first’ engine painted was GP9 550 or 558. IIRC, the first ‘new’ engines were the ‘Dolly Sisters’, a pair of Alco DL640(415,416). The new Alcos did not meet expectations and and the entire Alco FA1 fleet was traded in to EMD for GP30’s(riding on those Alco trade-in trucks).
The paint scheme did not change until the mid 70’s, when the ‘parallelagram’ SOO scheme was released with the red/white seperation angling back on the cab at a much steeper angle(and the rear end of the long hood painted solid white). This scheme did not last very long due to problems applying the large single piece reflective ‘SOO’ on the sides. Within a year, the standard black ‘SOO’ letters returned, as well as the red end on the long hood; the new shaper seperation line was the only thing that remained.
In the late 70’s/early 80’s, the SOO took delivery of GP38-2 engines, and the first order had red SOO lettering on the side. Following orders reverted back to the standard black SOO lettering.
After the Milw was bought by the SOO, repainting of Milw engines was done very slow, and most just got the ‘bandit’ paint scheme where anything Milw was painted with black patches, and renumbered. By 1989, a new paint scheme was introduced. The ‘Candy Apple Red’ scheme with the speed
Brilliant! [8D] Thanks for the help.
Would the Alco trucks be the same wheelbase as the standard EMD traucks… and would I be able to get such trucks for the P2K GP30s?
Thanks for the help [8D][8D][8D]
Jim:
Wonderful history of the Soo line. My uncle worked for the Soo in Superior in the freight yards. When I was a lad he would let me ride in the caboose when doing switching duties. We have a BNSF line running through our city and the other day I saw a consist with one of the engines being a Soo diesel.
the goat
There’s still at least one bandit (patched Milwaukee Road engine.) A couple weeks ago there was a bandit MP15 on a road freight leaving Milwaukee. It was actually a double bandit i guess, the soo patching was in turn patched out with CP. Cheers! ~METRO
The first units with the new 1961 SOO Scheme were GP9 Units with test paint schemes. Check the Soo Line Historical & Technical Society website for the information about the GP9 test schemes in the posters and drawings pages within the publications header. www.sooline.org
The ALCO RS-27 Pair of 415 and 416 were the first SOO Units with the new scheme factory painted in 1962.
The GP30s were the second series of locomotives to be painted new in the modern SOO paint scheme in 1963
The GP35s were the third series of Locos to be delivered in the modern SOO paint scheme in 1964 or 1965.
In 1967 the GP40s arrived on the Soo Line Railroad.
You can buy the RS-27 and GP30 and GP35 for the SOO LINE colors in HO Scale and N Scale from model makers like Walthers and the Atlas Model RR Company.
The Soo Line Historical & Techical Society pubication the SOO has had issues with articles about the GP9s, RS-27s, and GP30s. The GP30 issue was within the past 2 years. It would take a look back though all the issues to find them. There is also a list of back issues on the www.sooline.org website.
Andrew