B&O colors - Lionel's PW F3's

Whoever is responsible for this is related to the current, living person who put the silver paint on the front of the VL Niagara, the neon green of several Great Northern Steamers, and the grey smokebox and firebox of my VL 3985.

Or so I would guess.,,,,   

@Berkshire President posted:

Whoever is responsible for this is related to the current, living person who put the silver paint on the front of the VL Niagara, the neon green of several Great Northern Steamers, and the grey smokebox and firebox of my VL 3985.

Or so I would guess.,,,,   

I believe that c.sam is talking about the 2368 Baltimore and Ohio Lionel Corporation 1956 model that had a much lighter blue color than the real deal B&O Railroad used on their locomotives - the person/people resposible for choosing that shade of blue have most likely gone to that big roundhouse in the sky (or the fiery blast furnace down below)...

I'm sure that's the case, MTN.  I was just adding some sarcasm....and making a mild point.   

@Berkshire President posted:

I'm sure that's the case, MTN.  I was just adding some sarcasm....and making a mild point.   

I'll see your Lionel color mismatches and raise you my early MTH L&N F3 diesels and matching 15" passenger cars where the cream/ivory stripe on the diesels is almost orange - not remotely close to matching (with shortened Blomberg trucks to boot) - all the manufacturers botch paint colors, some more than others to be sure.

C. Sam although I don't know the answer to the question you pose.  I'm sure someone on the OGR Forum will come up with an answer to your question.  I'm curious to see any answers that come up. Thanks for asking the question.   Until you asked that question I just figured Lionel management , back in  the 1950s,  just came up with a scheme that they thought would sell and and called it "close enough", then went ahead with production.  I'm sure in due time there will be folks that chime in with a factual answer to your question.  

I do believe that K line came much closer to the B&O F3 prototype paint scheme than post-war Lionel.  Of course Williams intention was to immediate the Lionel post-war model of th F3 not the prototype ... I wish Williams would have made both.   I'll try to take some side by side photos of K line/ Williams this weekend.   Meanwhile here are some shots of both the K line and Williams models.

Top 4 photos are K line and bottom 3 are Williams.

I don't see a comparison to the current production mismatches compared to post war Lionel colors.  At the time the color schemes were meant to be colorful and sell.  They were not always very prototypical.  The New Haven F3s, blue striped Virginian Train Masters, Silver CB&Q GP9s, blue and orange CNJ NW1s and so many others were never meant to match the prototype, but they were colorful.  Today's more scale-oriented production is intended to match the prototype and at times we have seen some interesting mismatches that were never intentional.

For what it is worth, the 1957 HO Athearn GP9 had colors that were closer to the Lionel F3 than the prototype also.