Undesided on Undecorated

[Jannie]

Hi all.....You may have seen my layout taking shape ( My HO Layout) over the past couple of months......anyways,I'm getting a pair of GP40-2's undec soon,& I'm still undesided on what paint scheme....I'm currently running 2 Burlington locos ( GP9 & SD50 ),2 CNW ( SD40-2 & AC4400CW ),a BN (SW9,also receiving 2 GP9's in same scheme soon) aswell as 2 F3's (currently in CN-scheme,but will soon receive Ontario Northland scheme to match the passenger cars.......As for the GP40-2's I was thinking of a dark coulour scheme,seeing that none of my locos really have a dark scheme....somewhere along the lines of SP,Rio Grande, etc........What do you recommend? Thanx....Jannie

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Jannie- Deciding on a paint scheme is difficult.
But you can used "pre-owned" equipment in the previous paint schemes by painting out the old name and putting you railroad's name over a primered spot.
Dark colors on an engine do not show dirt very well, except for light road dirt for weathering. Also, dark colors are harder to photograph in low light (normal room levels) situations.
Medium and light colors are easier to spot on a layout, and details show up well in pictures.
HOWEVER, it is your railroad, so do what you want to do!

You can always repaint the equipment again, later.
Or, you can change your scheme on newer equipment for a change in corporation color policy.

 

[Jannie]

Thanx.The weathering part doesn't actually bother me much,as for photographing & detailing I take your advice into consideration.......I think I'll hence SP,or is there other paint schemes that will match my other railroad schemes I've got?

 

[Jannie]

or what about something like this?....Western Pacific.....kinda like the silver & orange scheme....(GP35)

 

[Littlefoot14]

Heres a scheme you might like if your looking for a darker scheme. Theres a 90% complete GP7 and 70% complete GP38 in the same KCS Southern Belle inspired scheme.

 

[NH Mike]

Here's what I did for my railroad Jannie. Since the prototype RR on my layout is the New haven I follow that color scheme but substitue SP Lark Dark Gray for the black the New Haven used. Otherwise each class of locomotive is painted in the same way as the NH. Road numbering of a class on my RR generally picks up where the NH class ended.

You could choose a prptotype scheme you like and just change one of the colors, in my case the predominant color, and add you private road decals. I have my decals made to look like the N over H as the New Haven did in the 1950's.

 

[Jannie]

Thanx for that Mike......I was pondering with the idea of also using some road name & changing a couple of things (ex: Western Province (roadname) with colour scheme looking like Western Pacific,but change the orange/black with blue/white......in other words the colour could then be silver,blue with white stripes on the nose & tail).......I think that will be something different

 

[Jannie]

This is the emblem of our Western Province Rugby Team (player jerseys are white with blue stripes )......So I'm thinking of doing the GP40-2's similar to the Western Pacific style & then put the Emblem on the cab with Western Province lettering on the side....