Just a thought that had popped into my mind that I thought some of the expert railfans might also have a thought on. I was wondering what perspective there might be on which railroad had the best colour combination for an SD45, in particular, something that really enhanced those fancy flared radiators and emphasized their shape.
Well, perhaps their paint did not enhance anything, but the Northern Pacific SD45 units were very handsome.
Well, if the Nickel Plate ever lived long enough, I think the Black/yellow would have worked well on that body. Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2
I'd be inclined to agree with you, except I am also kind of partial to the Southern RR SD45s because they ran them long hood forward, so you see the nice flare on the long hood coming at you. The Northern Pacific freight scheme also looked quite nice, too, with the yellow ends.
For me it would have to be Santa Fe's in solid blue, with the thin yellow pinstripes and yellow ends. (Or the Santa Fe bicentennial SD45-2s).
Santa Fe's blue & yellow "Warbonnet" scheme. Next would be Southern's Tuxedo-like scheme, followed by Frisco's O/W, especially the later builds including the nose-installed Gyralite and the L-shaped windshield.
Now we're talkin..the current wheeling and lake Erie uses the rio Grande colors and scheme its very striking. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
I'm going to vote for Montana Rail Link, if for no other reason than I see them virtually every day, so they aren't a "what was", they fall under a "what IS" the best paint scheme.
AFter recently acquiring an N scale UP SD45 shell for a spare chassis that I had, I am actually starting to think that UP colours look pretty good on an SD45 body, and you can really see that SD45 flare.
