'Colorado Blogspot' about a 1/4 the way down the page is a topic by the same name as this thread. The pics UP has released on the present heritage lokies match a portion of the real paint job--that leads me to believe that the SP engine will have plenty of Daylight influence... :teeth: The C&NW engine is stil a mystery to me, but I guess based on that pic, that it will have some 'Route of 400's' influence..:shade:
If they're specifying the SP as the Sunset route, then don't they need to do a Central Pacific Engine too? I wouldn't be surprised if they do Daylight for the SP unit, too much gray still in the fleet. Though a Black Widow I think would look better,
Not necessarily. I would've thought that from the earlier heritage units, but there's been a decline in the bi-color theme. The picture shows the Daylight colors with white pinstripes - if we get that, it'll be good. The Heritage units make me think of Tony Koester's book Realistic Model Railroad Design. He devotes a whole chapter to freelance paint schemes. (It seems excessive for one book, except that it's not something most other books cover.) He admits that his recommendations are best suited to railroads of an earlier time, but still... Going by his guidelines, all the heritage schemes are "unrealistic". Non-standard color separation lines, and too fancy overall.
I've not read that book, but It wouldn't based on his old Midland road scheme, I think It's not totally unreasonable even in the modern world. BNSF is the most complex scheme with H1 and H2 and they're fairly basic. With the exception of the mountain profile on the DRGW unit, the Heritage units have a very basic scheme. Diagonal slash with 2 main colors. They're perhaps brighter then typical, but not complex. The DRGW actuaslly follows the same concept of 2 primary colors, but the slash is the mountain outline. Just goes to show, never trust a prototype to be prototypical.
Exactly - modern paint schemes don't necessarily follow older rules. Koester mostly discusses the transition era (when paint schemes were designed more by loco manufacturers than by railroads) and the simplified schemes of the 60s-70s - because those are the time periods he and his friends model. A diagonal color separation line wasn't normal back in those days, but it's part of the modern CN scheme. BNSF H1, H2 and H3 actually follow his rules; they're based on horizontal stripes. Amtrak's current scheme, whereas, wouldn't pass his standards.
Thanks, Hemi, for the link. I'm not an expert on these roads so I thought I would leave the commentary to the experts. This thread has been very enlightening to read. :thumbs_up: By the way, here's the link to the specific post.
I tend to take anything Koester talks about with a tablespoonful or two of PeptoBismol. Since when does a railroad have to follow the painting "rules" of a model railroader? The artsy-fartsy schemes UP has come up with for its so-called "heritage" units, plus the schemes for Amtrak and some of the transit agencies (NM RailRunner and Seattle's Sounder come to mind) run counter to what we normally see trackside. Some of the schemes are a hit (the transit schemes, the MP, WP and Katy "heritage" trademark-enforcer diesels), while others, well, are not. My opinion, of course...... PS- let's hope UP doesn't foul up CNW or SP like they did Rio Grande)
Vote On It Just for everyone to go on the record whether they love it or hate it (or don't care), I've created a poll in a new thread. Go ahead and cast your vote!
