Does anyone know what paint scheme E7's ran in, so far I can only find pictures on the internet in the black scheme? Thanks Andy
Southern E units were originally green, then went black in the late 1950s, then back to green in the early 1970s (don't know if any E7s made it to 1972). See the very bottom of this page: http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1972/72-7/cres.html Here's 2919 in green: http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/e7/sou2912-1.html
Thanks much obliged to you. Just out of interest I notice the E7 in the photo has large number boards, was this usual for the Southern E7's do you know? Andy
I don't know. The units in this order however were some of the last E7s built. http://www.trainweb.org/emdloco/e7.htm But, it appears the 1st order had those number boards too: http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/e7/ssou2905557.html http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/e7/sou2912.html Hope this helps a bit. Mark
Andrew - Southern E-7's wore at least three color schemes during their service life. The first, (~1941-47) was very similiar to the later green and white scheme, but with extra white both on the side and the top of the engine. This is the scheme that Life-Like uses on their Southern DL-109. From about 1947 to 1958 Southern had their "classic" green and white scheme, such as LifeLike on their early E-7, the E-8, and Athearn on their Genesis F-3's and F-7's. From ~1958 to the end of service the E-7's wore the "tuxedo" scheme of black and aluminum grey (white). Southern rebuilt/updated many of their E-7's in 1953/54 with some even getting porthole windows. To the best of my knowledge, none of the E-7's made it into the 1970's "Crescent" green scheme which was a reprise of the '47-'58 scheme, save for the "Crescent" name on the cab.
