On the BNSF white face, is the rear of the cab also painted white? Or just the front where we always take the pictures? Thanks.
The rear cab door(s). As I understand it, there is one door on the engineer's side behind the engineer. The other side has the door on the front. To me, the "white face" is caused by the area of the cab painted white above and around the nose. I wanted to know if this similar (analogous?) area on the back of the cab, right behind the engineer/fireman, facing the rear, is painted white, also. I was not asking about the rear of the long hood. Thanks.
No it seems to me that the doors on the back of, or right behind the engineer and conductor are not white. At least it was that way on all of the GP39E's that I have seen. The most recent being the 2824 or 2834 I think was the number, but anyway the cab doors on the back are the traditional green with black on the top, some of the units all the way around the long hood and cab have a white seperation stripe. hope this helps MRL
It is possible to see a white door that has been placed on the back of a unit. The doors are interchangeable. Meaning the front door could be used on the back if needed. It does occur once in a great while. If the hinges are broken on a door and they need to quickly replace a door, they will grab the first available door.............
With the exception of repairs such as MRL has noted, BN just painted the front nose and front of the cabs only. The only exception was two window SD60M's as the side of the wide cab had white as seen here. The three window SD60M's had a slight variation on this theme, a green front, white BN logo flanked by either side bu wide white stripes. Also note that the BN white face scheme has the large BN logo in white on the nose of the unit. Hope this helps Flash.
Thanks, guys. This is for another model I am painting. Hope to do it this weekend, but it doesn't look like I will finish now.
To add alittle to this. The white face came about as visibilty issue at grade crossings and also a safety issue.They decide to paint the front of the loco white to see if it would improve visibilty.They thought the white would be easier to see down the line then black that may blend in with surroundings.
Yes, the white face was a crossing visibility issue. The rear of the cab getting a white coat woould be unnecessary. The white door on the rear of the cab is plausible, however. Flash, I look forward to seeing some green in that sea of gray and scarlet!
I think BN also tried a Rio Grande-like tiger stripe to improve visibility, didn't they? Think of it...Cascade Green mixing with halloween orange and black. Strangely enough, a Rio Grande GP-60 with the standard orange and black striping was painted with white reflective stripes down the side also with the intention to improve visibility. Didn't work though. Looked too darn ugly.
Yes they did, during the mid eighties. They were called the Tiger Stripes, did not work well and were costly so BN went with the white face soon after. The white faces were the best paint scheme BN had IMHO.
The only 2 types of locos to get the "Tiger stripes" were the GP 50s, which I believe they were all delivered new from EMD with them. Then there was 3 or 4 SD 40-2 painted in that scheme too. I think they were 8000, 8001, 8002 & 8003. One of them, I think it was 8002 even had the orange down the entire side of the nose.
Yes there were the GP50, SD40-2,SD60 & E-9's Rd #'s were GP50 3110-3162 (3110 & 3112 had orange and white stripes, Rather than Orange & Blk) All as delivered that way SD40-2 8002 (Only one) SD60 8300-8302 E-9 9900-9925 Here is the referance http://fobnr.org/motivepower/tigerstripe.htm Hope this helps Paul www.pnptrains.com
The Tiger Stripes I personally liked the tiger stripes. They were my favourite BN paint scheme. The colour scheme of orange/black stripes, orange face with black number panel, white lettering with Cascade Green body provided a BN identity within itself - a color scheme set - making BN stand out from other railroad paint schemes.. I heard that the reason why BN removed the tiger stripes from their units was because it wasn't visible enough and blended with scenery - like camouflage -according to some people. That's just ridiculous. Not sure if BN railroad officials decided that, or if a public survey decided that or the Federal Railroad Commission (don't know the exact name of the board) decided that the tiger stripes were a 'no go'. Tiger stripes and visibility? Orange, red & yellow are all acceptable colours for visibility. The tiger stripes are visible enough and just how close do some people have to get to a locomotive before they can see it - before they realize it's too late and get smoked by one?? If someone can't see the tiger stripes from their automobile, maybe they shouldn't drive. I bet if BN kept the tiger stripes right up to the changing of cascade green to a different paint scheme they used in 1990 that would have been just fine I'm sure. I bet model railroad hobby stores sold a bundle of the tiger stripe locos when they were around. I wouldn't be surprised. I use the tiger stripe scheme on an imaginary railroad I created which has Cascade Green engines, white lettering, orange face and orange rear with black stripes on both ends. I made some BN tiger stripe homage paint scheme locos as well. Of course I also have regular BN units as well I paint myself with decals and BN cascade green model latex paint. The BN whiteface paint scheme was ok - for visibility reasons - but conclusively boring.
Welcome to TB BNTrainFan. Nice to hear you paint your equipment, would love to see some examples of your work.
