I can think of a few examples of North American railroads that possessed non-streamlined steam locomotives painted colors other than black: Southern's green locomotives, Union Pacific appears to have had some gray engines, and I've heard rumors (though never seen it myself) that Pennsy used Tuscan red and Pullman green on some of their motive power. Are there other instances of this practice in North America? I think color was more common on some of the European carriers, but I'd love to see and hear about some more domestic examples. -Dave
Locomotives used to pull many of the "limited" or "express" trains in the early 1900's were painted to match the cars. C&A's "Alton Limited" locomotives were red with yellow and white trim.
The only 'images' I have are from models (IHC and Lionel). Try a google search on "Alton Limited" and lots of pictures show up.
Although I saw it with my own 7 to 9 year old eyes, I've never been able to find out any info on it - the Seboard Air Line had at least one Q-3 Mikado that was painted Pullman/olive green with a lot of gold leaf striping. Inquiries to places where the info should be available have been of no avail. This would have been the very late '40's, possibly early 1950's.
Hey Dave, When I was a kid living in Marathon, Texas, the Southern Pacific ran highball freight trains through town, maybe twenty or more in a 24-hour period. Going just as fast as they could go, horns just a-screaming. I remember they used to sometimes have Chessie System engines mixed in with their own, and it seems to me they were yellow with maybe a little red in them. It's been so long ago, I may be wrong. Maybe just the Chessie System lettering was bright yellow, but I remember there was the outline of a cat in the lettering somehow. Nowadays, foreigners have invaded my little hometown, and now it's been designated a "quiet zone." No more train whistles. Special barriers at RR crossings, etc. I could hear a train whistle in bed at night and get the most secure feeling, knowing I was warm and safe in bed while that train was out in the cold night. It would put me to sleep every time.
These were steam engines? Because I thought the Chessie System post-dated steam by quite a wide margin. I have seen a couple model steam locomotives painted up in the Chessie colors, but I thought they were just promotions until I found this: But even then, I'm pretty sure this is a special excursion train in the post-steam era. But maybe C&O was using the "Chessie System" colors before the mergers? I'm not that "up" on my railroad history. I know I've seen Chessie the sleeping kitten in advertisements for the C&O in the 1950s, however... -Dave
Yes, the late steam era C&O did use the kitten in advertising, but I haven't seen pictures of it on locomotives. But you're out of the steam era. SP ran its last steam when you were a baby, and C&O just before you were born. Yes, UP had gray steam. Union Pacific Two-Tone Gray 4-6-6-4 Challengers Actually, no PRR steam was black. It was all DGLE ("Brunswick Green") all over, except for the streamlined K4 which I believe was Tuscan.
rutland The rutland railroad L1 mountains were as delivered green. They were given the Green Hornets by workers.
Of course, if you go back to the 1800s, many Locomotives were painted other colors In particular the wooden cabs.
In fact, there were plently of examples of specially painted, colorful, non-streamlined steam engines between the 1930's and 1950. Two examples that come to mind immediately for me were the CNJ's Blue Comet (engines #831, 832 and 833) painted in two shades of blue and their Queen of the Valley (#834), which was a sort of pullman green. NYW&B
Nossir Dave, those Chessie System locos were not steam. I've never had the privilege of seeing a live steam locomotive anywhere on a rail line, except at Disney World, and I was fascinated. The town where I was raised did, however, have a huge black water tank that was used for steam locomotives. This thing was HUGE, and was usually the first thing you could see when you approached town from the west. It stayed in place until about ten or fifteen years ago. The concrete supporting base is still there, and has been turned into a little garden or something like that, with trees planted inside the concrete framework. The last remnant of a bygone era in a little Texas town.
The Chessie System was a holding company that owned four American railroads, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT) and the Western Maryland Railway (WM), from 1972 until 1987, when the B&O and C&O were merged into CSX Transportation. The B&OCT was owned by the B&O, but was operated as an independent railroad. In 1980, Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries to form Jacksonville, FL based CSX Corporation. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the Chessie System was the creation of Cyrus S. Eaton and his protégé Hays T. Watkins, Jr., then president and chief executive officer of the C&O. A chief source of revenue for the Chessie System was transportation of coal mined in West Virginia. The signature symbol of the Chessie System was its "Ches-C", a large emblem incorporating the outline of the C&O's famous "Chessie" the kitten logo. The Ches-C was emblazoned on the front of all Chessie System locomotives, and also served as the "C" in "Chessie System" on the locomotive's flanks, and on other rolling stock. The Chessie System itself did not own any locomotives or other rolling stock; rather, equipment would be placed on the roster of one of the three component railroads. While all three companies shared a common paint scheme of yellow, vermillion, and blue, actual ownership of the equipment was denoted by the reporting marks: C&O, B&O, or WM. The above information was pasted from Wikipedia. I thought it was interesting, as I'd always thought the Chessie System was a railroad line by itself.
