I have never been one to weather my N Scale locomotives although I like the realsim, I still like clean and crsip. That promotes me to make this observation, and then follow up with a question....I see many a real Diesel locomotive, mainly U.P. here in Pomona CA, and BNSF in Riverside CA, and most all the locomotives I see are dirty, and if not, they are well on their way to being very dirty. Question... do the Rail Roads ever clean, I mean really scrub locomotives back to their new look or do they just rinse them and leave the hardened grime ? Maybe it takes too much time ? Not in the budget ? They just don't care about appearance ? Too difficult ? I am really curious about this ........ Oh yes, the dirtiest locomotives I have ever seen were S.P. Tunnel Motors, which were so dirty you could not see the lettering or Bloody Red nose, LOL ! fatalxsunrider43
I can't speak for UP, because the CA run locos are probably the filthiest in the country. I understand it’s because of Calif’s clean air & water polices. Thats just what I heard. Do know that BNSF washes their Locos. I not only watched a video them being washed, but they are so clean running through the Barstow area that the look like they came right out of the factory.
I don't really know, except what I see locally and what I could surmise. RJ Corman, our local short/regional line, seems to keep a very, very neat shop. Aside from a bit of diesel soot on the top, the locos I see around here always look like they went through the engine wash on their way out the door that morning. We don't have a water problem, though, and I live in the nearest decent sized town from old RJ's ranch, so that might have something to do with it. The CSX, NS, and pooled power I see around here is significantly dirtier, but still probably cleaner than some of the photos of western equipment I've seen. The one time I would say they would HAVE to give it a good scrubdown would be during a repaint job. Paint just doesn't adhere to dirty surfaces well. But they do that, what, every ten years or so?
What dirt and grime??? The FEC locos I see around here are not dirty or grimy from a distance. Well the wheels/trucks are probably a bit grimy and oily... but the carbodies seem to be well kept. Only the oldest Geeps are faded looking and perhaps some visible rusting... of course they aren't on the mainline much anymore near me... they're working the yards at night or early morning and I don't see them anymore. The FEC has new equipment now that they are part of Rail America and maybe they have a more dlilgent approach to keeping the equipment looking like new. As for my own preference, the new look is the the way I go. Not because I necessary like to keep everything clean... but for some reason I can't make myself 'dirty' up a nicely painted finishes. Thing is... I approve of others that add grime, dirt, oil and other substances to their equipment... because it looks more realistic. Even stranger than that is, I won't buy the pre-weathered cars from manufacturers either.baffled:
I suppose it depends on the railroad and if it's part of their scheduled maintenance routines. Perhaps time of year matters too? I imagine giving anything a wash while there's subzero temperatures outside has to be inviting trouble. I know the MBTA washes their stuff fairly regularly. Here's a recent shot of a loco coming out of their wash bay (and yes, that's an actual GP18 still in service!): At the Car Wash: NERAIL The NERAIL New England Railroad Photo Archive
I’m the same way. I like them clean and new looking, besides the real ones were clean and new at one time. What can I say, I have an “crackerjack” maintenance crew on my little railroad. :thumbs_up:
The NS in our area seem to keep their locos looking very good. There are a couple of GP40-2's and a high nose GP38-2 that operate out of Gang Mills to Wellsboro that must have just come out of the paint shop. They look as shiny as my locos!
I know on one of my local short lines it is part of the crews duties to wash their locomotives. Not only does this keep the equipment looking good, it is easier to do inspections and maintenance when parts are clean.
The answer is yes, they have locomotive washers and the Class 1 Railroads was their locos often. There are restrictions on the chemicals in California and when UP bought SP, they inherited the SP's dirtiness (If Southern Pacific were a character from Peanuts, they would be Pig Pen). but even so, the units do get washed. I Have yet to weather any of my locos, but it's not because I don't want to, it's because I've found that it's hard to get weathering to look realistic. Inevitably models either look too dull after weathering or without weathering, they are too shiny. It's something I'm going to have to experiment with before I commit to anything.
Another factor is the operating environment. Operating upgrade through long tunnels in run 8 (Tehachapi, Donner in CA) gets locomotives dirty really fast, especially trailing units and DPU's/helpers. That's another reason (besides the fact that they rarely washed them) that the SP's locomotives were so wonderfully weathered, and why some of the UP engines look like they do.
I have a mixture of super clean to super dirty. I find a mist of dullcoat or other clear matte rattlecan spray takes that NEW shine off just fine. My 'older' locos are dirtier and weathered more then the 'newer' era stuff. My mainline SD Katos stay pretty clean. On the other hand...my UP GP20 yard switcher is going to be just to danged busy to get a proper washing....LOL. .
Ah, the dirty SP.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wAlVkYVMFo Blink twice and you'll miss the Kodachrome at around 1:45 in the video.
The era is a factor as well. The Santa Fe of old generally kept its units looking better and repainted more often. I say generally because I have seen the odd photos of units that look like they have been dipped in a jar of grimy black. Passenger units even got their trucks and pilots resprayed with silver paint before each trip. I'm sure some old Santa Fe railroaders would be turning in their graves if they saw the condition BNSF was letting its warbonnet units get into.
The EMD locomotives painted in the "Super Fleet" colors wear better than the GE units in the same livery. The "Fleet" GEs look like rolling rustbuckets, with badly faded, peeling paint and rust spots. Kinda reminds me of a car I used to own years ago................. As for UP, they seem to keep their Heritage units clean.
I'm sorry fella's... ...but the era I grew through that fascinates me train wise- 60s/70s dictates alot of grime. I mean grime to where you can see where the engineer's shoulders rubbed against the door panels on a Geep or U-Boat and it was the only clean, even shiny part of a locomotive. If there aren't rooster tails of mud slung up against your F units- I honestly can't appreciate them. If your Geeps shine in the golden sun reflecting a mirrors image of their surroundings I am more interested in the reflections. If it's a locomotive that works for a living it better have at least road dust on it. If it doesn't it better have a bonnet on it. All tongue-in-cheek. No fatalism here. Mark (a.k.a. dead meat)
Enjoy looking through these photos. NS - Norfolk Southern Locomotive Roster - Railroad Picture Archives.NET
K E W L ... You keep finding the clean ones...I'll keep finding the dirty ones...ok? :tb-wink: http://www.railfan.net/railpix/submit/subphoto.cgi?tedwyskida/TRAINs-B-240011_5_1_1.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1001/1002227151_d5fbf9e17c.jpg http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=316652&nseq=18 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=316190&nseq=21 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=315637&nseq=26 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=315005&nseq=36 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=314471&nseq=39 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=309916&nseq=79 http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/5/4/9/2549.1260658397.jpg .
