Don’t shoot me, just ponder this thought for a minute. Back when railroads had extensive passenger operations and steamlined passenger locomotives, the fancy paint jobs were a source of recognition and pride. Think SP Daylight colors, or ATSF Warbonnet. Now that the majority of rail traffic is freight, it would seem that need is no longer there. Certainly, there is every reason to paint your locomotives in company colors. I LIKE locomotives painted in different color schemes-who doesn’t? Unfotuneately, those same locomotives don’t radiate as much charm when they’re dirty, or faded, or smoked up, or peeling.
If, a freight locomotive is simply a workhorse, why don’t railroads simply paint them a single, common color, like PRR black, or Pullman green? Both these colors were purportedly used to hide road grime. Again, I’m not saying they should, simply asking why they don’t at this point?
Ever seen a dirty UPS truck? There must be a reason they are UPS brown, and not UPS daylight. Something to think about.
Better profits on calendar sales![:D]
UPS trucks are washed every night, or at least they are supposed to be.
Now that you mention it, I don’t recall seeing too many UPS calenders.[;)]
Advertising, for one reason. Safety, for another. A locomotive painted with all
dark colors is very hard to see-by other crews, and by those few people left
who drive without cell-phoning and actually pay attention at grade crossings.
Same reason that DHL and FedEx don’t paint their trucks brown, and in fact have rather distinctive designs (as opposed to just using factory paint and some minimal identification) - brand recognition. FedEx even “brands” their own different services with different paint/markings.
Despite our feelings about how RRs seem to see themselves, it’s still a brand recognition thing. It also makes them easier to find in the parking lot.
Larry is absolutely right, it is all abount brand recognition first and then safety, The Fed Ex white and the DHL mustard yellow are safety concerns for visibility. If you’ll notice, UPS after years of sticking to the Brown only has begun to use decals with colors that are reflective on their equipment. NOtice the Union Pacific equipment at night that seems to have reflective taping on all the red lines and name, as an example.
H’mmmm, perhaps BNSF was thinking exactly that when they simplified to the H4 scheme? A step in that direction.
And the NS “catfish” scheme is pretty basic and grime tolerant
Hmmmm. So, if its all about safety, how come the black and white locomotives of the NS continue to serve the “Safest” Class 1 railroad according to the Harriman Award Committee at least??
LC
BTW, the black paint jobs are known in the industry as “FRA Friendly” because they hide spilled oil and other possible hazards from quick visual inspection…
Kind of the same theory as not owning a red sportscar, unless you like frequent roadside meetings with the constabulary…
LC
Red cars are a cop magnet. I know this from personal experience[:(!]!
Why do airlines spend thousands of $ to paint whales on their planes? Branding!
Same with RR’s, each is a seperate corporation with its own separate corporate logo and identity, that logo and identity is what they market to other businesses they work with and to the public thru their PR firms.
As a result each company requires a marketable image, something that looks good on the cover of a stockholders report or an investment portfolio. Which company would you rather invest in, the one with the bright shiny colorful polychromatic engines on the cover of their investment package or the one with a monotone primer grey engine with stencil block letters painted on the side. Image!
Some RRs like UP have simlpy inherited their colors over the decades, others like BNSF, NS and CSX have had to reinvent new color schemes in lieu of reusing one from one of thier previous component lines.
Other newer short lines like WS are entirely original in their paint schemes.
Its kind of sad but outside of the odd yet to be repainted fallen flag engines still floating around thier, I believe UP is the ONLY old guard RR still sporting its original paint scheme. Am I wrong assuming this?
And all this time I thought that the different paint schemes were for the use of railfans in spotting trains!!
dd
Only if the driver is cute, or your driving like “Speed Racer” [;)][:0]
from the owner of 2 fire engine red cars [:D]
Really–I’ve never seen a police officer pull over a Pacific Electric…[:D]
Now that would be cool! [8D]
That may have been true at one time, but certainly hasn’t been for the last 8 years… (I should know…[;)])
Which paint scheme did NS reinvent? They were a creation of Norfolk & Western (black with white graphics) and Southern (also black with white graphics, although they had an imitation aluminum stripe to dress things up)…
Do you mean Wisconsin & Southern (WSOR)? Their colors aren’t really all that original, take a look at the old Green Bay & Western paint scheme… But it sure looks good!
A lot of the history of paint schemes actually came from EMD’s marketing department! They had the newfangled diesel-electrics painted up in all kinds of snazzy schemes to catch the eye of the public, not to mention railroad executives. While some railroads kept their EMD-designed scheme, others simplified it, while others went in other directions – like Lehigh Valley, which painted its locomotives a different color with each model! (No wonder they went broke…)
The Federal Railroad Administration requires something along the lines of bold contrasting colors on at least the front end of each engine in order to make them more visible to employees and the general public. Some carriers that had very simple color schemes added diagonal stripes to both the front and back ends of their units in order to meet this requirement.
So much of Norfolk Southern’s prosperity is due to all of the coal they haul. By painting their units black, they’re probably honoring their best customer segment.
I certainly understand your reasoning. At the risk of touching off a dirty flag decal issue: Why don’t the railroads put more work into keeping up that branding image? I see a lot of really shaggy brand-name locomotives, but never a shaggy UPS or FEDEX truck. As far as marketing,does anyone choose one railroad to ship on verses another, based on paint job? Tell me people don’t really invest in a railroad based on their image? I sometimes think the people who had it figued out was Conrail: 1,000,000 gallons of blue paint.
Advertising, would you paint you’re billboard black? (NS, IC and others did that, but they really don’t have anything to prove to people, many times, where their tracks run, it’s railroad or truck, no other railroads competing.)
Flip side:does painting your billboards yellow sell any more freight business? PRR had black engines, Milwaukee Road had neat orange engines. I don’t think either paint selection had much to do with business success.[:)]