This is from another board I visit...from what is normally a reliable source...this is the list of remaining unpatched SP/SSW units as of last week.. Chicago & North Western remaining locomotives: 2 C44-9W #8646 C44-9W #8701 Denver & Rio Grande Western remaining locomotives: 1 SD40T-2 #5371 Southern Pacific remaining locomotives: 91 AC4400CW #101 AC4400CW #107 AC4400CW #114 AC4400CW #117 AC4400CW #139 AC4400CW #140 AC4400CW #144 AC4400CW #154 AC4400CW #161 AC4400CW #163 AC4400CW #167 AC4400CW #177 AC4400CW #179 AC4400CW #183 AC4400CW #186 AC4400CW #187 AC4400CW #188 AC4400CW #192 AC4400CW #194 AC4400CW #199 AC4400CW #203 AC4400CW #204 AC4400CW #206 AC4400CW #208 AC4400CW #232 AC4400CW #239 AC4400CW #257 AC4400CW #259 AC4400CW #266 AC4400CW #303 AC4400CW #309 AC4400CW #319 AC4400CW #324 AC4400CW #332 AC4400CW #334 AC4400CW #335 AC4400CW #338 AC4400CW #343 AC4400CW #347 AC4400CW #352 AC4400CW #355 AC4400CW #359 AC4400CW #373 GP40 #3086 GP38-2 #4801 GP38-2 #4859 GP38-2 #4862 GP40M-2 #7100 GP40M-2 #7102 GP40M-2 #7103 GP40M-2 #7104 GP40M-2 #7105 GP40M-2 #7117 GP40M-2 #7125 GP40M-2 #7126 GP40M-2 #7128 GP40M-2 #7133 GP40M-2 #7135 GP40M-2 #7136 GP40M-2 #7137 GP40-2 #7619 GP40-2 #7666 GP40-2 #7675 GP40-2 #7942 GP40-2 #7956 SD40M-2 #8576 SD40M-2 #8578 SD40M-2 #8579 SD40M-2 #8580 SD40M-2 #8584 SD40M-2 #8586 SD40M-2 #8613 SD40M-2 #8621 SD40M-2 #8628 SD40M-2 #8655 SD40M-2 #8664 SD40M-2 #8666 SD40M-2 #8674 SD40M-2 #8681 SD40M-2 #8690 SD40M-2 #8694 GP60 #9721 GP60 #9732 GP60 #9738 GP60 #9742?? GP60 #9752 GP60 #9755 GP60 #9759 GP60 #9761 GP60 #9794 St. Louis Southwestern remaining locomotives: 27 GP40M-2 #7274 GP40M-2 #7275 GP40M-2 #7279 GP40M-2 #7281 GP40M-2 #7283 GP40M-2 #7284 GP40M-2 #7285 GP40M-2 #7286 GP40M-2 #7290 GP40-2 #7637 GP40-2 #7655 GP40R #7962 GP60 #9641 GP60 #9642 GP60 #9647 GP60 #9652 GP60 #9653 GP60 #9669 GP60 #9682 GP60 #9683 GP60 #9684 GP60 #9692 GP60 #9693 GP60 #9699 GP60 #9701 GP60 #9703 GP60 #9708
That many still unmolested? Uncle Pete sure thinned the Grande's ranks quickly.. Shoot them while you can!!! You may not get another chance!
Off topic abit, I've always thought that Cotton Belt grey & SP grey were 2 different shades,the 2 pic's above show this point very nicely!CB has more of a blue hue to it?
It would be hard to really tell from two old faided paint jobs taken with two different cameras under different lighting conditons. There are so many variables such as paint supplier, batch, weather condition in area of primary service etc. I will look around to see if I can find two newer units side by side, one SP and the other SSW.
In ~theory~, they should all be the same. A lot of how they look now depends on how they've weathered - remember, it's been 10 years since the takeover, so none of the remaining SP/SSW fleet has (officially) seen fresh gray and red since at least then. The M-K rebuilt SD40M-2s like the 8673 are looking pretty shabby these days in their peeling clear coats and faded coats of gray and red; the GP60s are roughly the same vintage, but for whatever reason, their paint seems to be holding up somewhat better. The only diesels that I know of that had an intentionally different hue to them were a batch of SP B36-7s that wore an experimental "high-gloss" gray that had a much more blue hue to it than the standard lark dark gray in use at the time.
Sometimes SP/SSW gray looks bluish, mostly when new. More often, it looks yellowish, especially as it ages.
That's what I meant, more or less. Different paint schemes weather differently, mostly because their owner roads operate in different regions and environmental conditions. For SP, beige dust and fading from desert sun are the noticable characteristics.
Did the SSW units stay in that railroad's area? I always got the impression that they roamed system wide. meaning there should be no appreciable difference in weathering.
Some sources say that SSW units were mixed with SP, but almost entirely on the mother road's eastern lines. Judging by the frequency with which I see photos of SSWs in the western states, that can't be very true. Anyway, SSW engines do appear to weather similarly to SP engines.
Many Cotton Belt units were seen in California in different states of weathering. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/blogs/viewblog.php?entry=47&userid=1464
