Everyone has a favorite scheme. Let’s hear about the ugly ones. I vote for Penn Central.
Excuse me for disagreeing with you, but somehow I find the old Green and Creme executive scheme a lot nicer to the eye than the Pre-faded “peach” (as opposed to “pumpkin” scheme) on some of the Dash 9 units).
Anything with Santa Fe on the side. Long Live Yellow and Gray:)
FRISCO
I’ll repeat here what I said earlier about my favorite schemes, there are no great or ugly schemes, as they (in my opinion at least) are all good as long as they are on an operating unit and that unit is reasonably clean. I grew up in the NYC metro area so saw a lot of PC units, and they were no worse than the original NS units (those without the horse). Jim
i will not say a scheme is ugly, i just dont understand the selection of color… the weirdest was erie-lackawana’s '50s passenger motif… i recall an odd lite green, a metallic coat that stood out but did not impress… that and the emblem is all i remember, not even if there was a second color…
I vote for Metra (Chicago commuter rail). Ugly combination of blue and orange on the locos. Uninspired gray paint with orange and brown stripes on the smooth sided cars. Basic black would be an improvement.
PC’s dip black; NS dip black; CSX "stealth dip gray; Union RR’s old apple green (Blech!). One of the oddest was Escanaba & Lake Superior’s BLW VO 1000 as delivered in yellow with two different colored stripes near the top of the hood. (pale green and red or something).
Gotta be the LS&BC hot pink!
As a former RR’er, B&M, I think that ugly schemes are subjective. I like the new Guilford paint schemes better. There is nothing more “Ugly” than a filthy head-end, no matter what their paint scheme is.
Stay cool!
Mostly CR “rainbow days” and hey man don’t talk bout my frisco besides UP/MP my favorite railroad. Frisco had the best paint scheme for Steam Locomotives!!! besides southern “Cresent” case closed
I really liked MOST of the 1970’s Bi-Centennial paint jobs, but Conrails GG-1 4800, looked like Bozo the clown meets catenary. This was the gaudiest, worst designed scheme ever applied to a GG-1. It looked as if a 4 year old got carried away with his finger-painting set.
Second choice goes to, SPSF “Kodachrome”. The merger was doomed, as well as the paint scheme. How did they ever think they could maintain that hot pink color given SP’s reputation for the worse looking locomotives on the planet?
Third pick, CSX’s all grey “stealth” scheme. This was really a statement of the bleak future that management had for railroading at the time. Not to mention being a safety hazard. On a foggy day these units just blended into the atmosphere. The “stealth” monicker was well earned, in this point. I wonder how many lives could have been saved if the CSX corporate bean-counters had approved a little more money for a brighter paint job on their engines.
Before anybody says anything about “stop-look-and-listen”, let me remind you that this is a day of cell phones, loud stereos, and total ignorance on the road. I’ve seen some of these drivers, they wouldn’t be phased a bit if the battleship Missouri fired a salvo across their hood. But, you can’t cure ignorance, just hope that no more innocent lives are lost due to stupidity.
Todd C.
Worst scheme ever…the first scheme after the BN became the Big New Santa Fe. We affectionately called it the vomit bonnet. It used the same colors of the BN’s “executive,” scheme, in the Santa Fe’s war bonnet motif. Puke!
That thing was so Ugly!!! I think they painted it that color so no one would steal it. Do you recall what brand it was? Was that a Baldwin?
TIM A
NYC/PC Green
It was a Baldwin S12…The last time I saw this unit was on the TTI at Maysville Ky.
Yes Sir I will agree with you on that. One nice thing about the Pumkin paint scheme, its bold and loud which is what they needed for the merger to work.
TIM A
I certainly would like to have seen an F-45 or FP-45 painted in either the pumpkin or executive scheme (would have preferred pumpkin in this case). Too bad that will now never happen!
Did they get rid of them? I thought they still had some out west and in Power back up storage for peek train use?
N&W black and white. NS black and white with horse’s a**. CSX dip grey stealth. PRR dip brunswick green with tiny herald. Guilford.