Your standing track side in Silvas IL when you hear a large train comming, you look up and to your surprise you see a SD60M in Rock Island paint! I have a customer in Bloomington who is a died in the wool Rock fan. He has asked me to do a fantasy scheme so here it is. I love the red engines the best, so I choose the same scheme that was on the SD40-2's and other units from the red years and updated it bit to meet the needs of modern railroading. Like the commuter units, I had the yellow go from the nose and go all the way to the end. One other update was to paint the front of the cab above the nose yellow as well, like BN and Conrail. Another change that can't be seen is the rear part of the cab is also yellow. The font has been updated a bit but still reflects the Rocks heritage. The standard Rock Island logo is on both the nose and tail end. I tried to keep this in the logical progression of the Rock Island as if the new logo and blue color scheme never happend and the Rock kept going much after March of 1980. hence the number as 5100 as SD40-2's were 4700. So what do you think? Jim
It would have been interesting had the Rock Island survived into the 1980's. Would it have fallen into the Union Pacific system after all? Its interesting to me that all of the principal routes are still seeing service with some of them busier than ever. Its not hard for me to imagine that armour yellow and grey locomotives are pulling unit coal trains, stack trains, etc... through Des Moines, Rock Island, Ottawa, and Joliet instead of Marshalltown, Clinton, Rochelle, and Dekalb. (NO offense intended to the CNW fans) The red and yellow looks good. Any of the Rock Island schemes would look good today. Too bad the IAIS could not do a "heritage" scheme. The Iowa Northern F-40 in maroon and silver is a good start.
I fear the Borg would indeed have gobbled up The Rock. And there would have been much more trackage abandoned, than what survives today. :sad: A heritage unit would be nice. If a true heritage paint scheme. Not some artist's silliness. :thumbs_down: We're talking history. Not Salvador Dali/Andy Worhol avant-garde, expressionist....... Boxcab E50
Come on Box, I think an updated "Persistence of Memory" with UP hotshot frieghts stalled in holes and melting into the landscape would be perfect. That being said, Warhol couldn't carry Dali's brushes when it came to execution. Dali is one of the top three painters of the 20th century and was technically superior to all other painters of his time. His later works were retro Catholic/Crucifixion motiff's in the same line as El Grecco's so I would not classify him as strictly avant-garde. I would call both of them reactionary as oppossed to expressionistic. Dali was reacting to the rise of fascism in Europe, and in the painting mentioned above; the strange 30 year European cycle of War-Disaster-Peace-War. Warhol was reacting to American standardization, mass advertising and conformity-all ironic in a land built upon, "The Rugged Individual". Well....I have to put that Art History minor to use once in a while On that note, nice work Jim. The balance between the red and the yellow works well. The yellow pinstripe really sets of what could be a monochromatic wash of red. I would say that I prefer the old, bold font. It stands out against the red with more weight and heft than the normal font does.
Actually, I think something more like a near new UP unit, being cut up for scrap. By smiling people wearing Rock Island attire..... Yes. I agree about Dali versus Warhol. Also, really, aren't all expressions of those "movements" essentially reactionary? Something is always there, an influence, that sets them in motion down that road..... Boxcab E50
I LOVE THE PHOTO and it would cool if the rock island could have survived who know maybe the rock could have bought out union pacific .
Oh stop! However, I hear the scrap guys at METRA in Chicago will cut up ANY locomotive, no matter what its historical value is, in 4 hours flat. Perhaps we could hire them out? Yes. Even the cave paintings were a reaction to what was happening in the real world. "Impressionsism" as we know it was a reaction to the "normal" art of the time. The "normal" art jury (The Salon) would not show the offerings coming from Manet, Monet, etc. at the time because, they were, "Ugly....offensive...immoral....lacking talent....etc.". Now, every college age girl has a Monet poster on the wall. Ever hear of Beaugeraux? Most highly regarded artist of the time. Painted what every upstanding Victorian wanted in their homes; soft core por- disguised in mythical motifes. Bleah! He was famous then and no one, sans we art history geeks, knows him now. I better stop before I hijack another thread
Jim, I think it would be awesome if the current day roads would run the paint schemes of the heritage they took over... It sure would create some interest from our type. Some paint and lettering would be really cheap advertising if you ask me.
