The UP's new Rio Grande heritage paint scheme has been out since Saturday, so I want to take a poll to get an idea of how they did. Regarding this particular locomotive, what do you think of the paint scheme? Vote in the poll above!
The rear half is Rio Grande- the front half is real crap. They did include all the colors, but IMNSHO it woulda looked better in the latter scheme found on the F-units. I won't throw rocks at it, but I'm not gonna make any special trips to a UP mainline near me to take pics of it.
Just Blecchh! I was never a fan of the bumblebee scheme in the first place. Give me the regular tigerstripe black any day.
I agree it's not pure Grande heritage, but it's not yellow, and the Aspen Gold is done well. I like it enough to chase it, but driving 800 miles is outta the cards for now..
If I see it in the Dallas area, and I have camera in hand I'd shoot it. I'm kinda with Bob in that the back half looks "Grande" but the front is more artsy fartsy.
I like it, the grey looks a little odd, I think silver would have looked better, there are only so many variations on the livery you could fit on a loco.....maybe they should have used a Centenial!!!!
I like the rear part because it is the Aspen Gold and stripes... the mountain effect on the front isn't bad... but all of that Harbor Mist Grey is hard to deal with... I agree that the front should have have been black w/ orange tiger stripes.
The more I look at it the more I love it. Granted I'm a big D&RGW fan, so I'm a little biased but I even went back on Sunday to take another look without all the people. I’ll probably get flamed for this but…I like the mountains incorporated into the paint scheme. It brings a modern touch into the traditional paint scheme. It represents progress. If I want to see the old four strip units I can just run over to the Colorado Railroad Museum and stair at the F7s they have on display there. I’ll be curious to see if UP will assign 1989 to the Ski Train this coming winter. That, IMHO is where it needs to be.
And from mwhat I hear, it's gonna make the trip west, to Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, and IF I heard right, even up the Crag branch to Phippsburgh. After that, it returns to Denver in captive service. From Denver to Pueblo on a NIGHT train! Will have to relocate the info first, as again, I'm doing something extremely dangerous and going from memory!
Not specifically a Rio Grande fan, but I still have an opinion, which I've said before. It's alright. I'm not going to go to the American West and follow it, but I don't usually travel anyway, so that doesn't say much.
I'll probably make the effort to catch it during my off days of Sunday/Monday. At least while it's still relatively new!! Chances are, the newness is gonna wear off, and the interest in it won't be there any longer. Wondering now, are the previous units - MP, MKT(Katy), WP roaming system wide, or are they also captive service units, as the Rio Grande will be, when tours are complete??
Rio Grande isn't my road, but UP certainly is. I certainly have a lot of respect and admiration for the Rio Grande as a western modeler and Coloradoan. I think it's fantastic that the UP is honoring its heritage by using these paint schemes and I applaud them for it. I don't mind that they've taken some artistic license as the fact remains, those railroads are from a bygone era and have been acquired. I think the UP has done this respectfully and with dignity to the original roads. I know many hate the UP for this, but I think it's just business and I support their effort in recognizing these fallen flags. You don't see this in other industries very often.
Hear hear! In '96 or therabouts, Katz drew a comic strip appearing in Railfan that equated the UP with the Borg. It seems like for the last 10 years, I couldn't look at a UP shield without thinking, "We are the UP...you will be assimilated." Yes, some of that was from "fallen flag-itis" (isn't there a drug for that yet?). Still, it seemed as if the UP shield would cover every rail I knew, and I resented it. After seeing this Heritage Series, the Borg perception, while not totally gone, seems to be lessening in my mind. Sure, some of that is PR, but, to the veterans of the Rio Grande that I met on Saturday, it meant something real to them.
Home Rails The executive behind the PA mike at the event Saturday said that the dispatchers would be keeping the units to their home rails (meaning, I guess, CO and UT) for a long time to come. But when did we start trusting railroad execs?
To me, the heritage units, regardless of how their paint schemes are appreciated, are no more than tradmark-reinforcing tools by the suits in Omaha. It's tough not to feel so cynical, esp. after their extortion efforts of the hobby industry. When the suits and not railroad men are left to run the railroad, you have the policies that UP espouses, as well as the preceptions from railfans. Granted, they still have the steam program, and there's no bigger railfan show than on Sherman Hill, but I still stand by my opinion. Nice paint jobs or not, the "heritage" units are what they are.
