Do people like the Big Sky Blue GN scheme?

Yes!

I liked the original GN scheme.  I never cared for BSB or BN green.

NH Joe

I do not. Empire Builder FTW...

I am part of the minority that actually like the Big Sky Blue paint scheme.  There are many peices of rolling stock and cabeese.  I wish there were more engines available.

I like BSB, but would have liked it more if it hadn't replaced the classic orange and green livery. I think a train of all BSB passenger equipment looks cool (but, then, I like "blue"). I think the passenger trains with the mixed liveries that they ran in the late 60's looked ridiculous, and it got worse in the early Amtrak period when they willy-nilly mixed in the Northern Pacific two-tone green scheme. The mixed liveries on the combined Empire Builder- North Coast Limited (Twin Cities-Chicago) were somewhat more tolerable.

I like GN Big Sky Blue. Big Sky Blue passenger cars are also prototypical for an early NJDOT/NJT Commuter train.

Combine the GN BSB theme with the Rock blue scheme in one long never ending train.  You'll be singin the blues.   

William 1 posted:

Combine the GN BSB theme with the Rock blue scheme in one long never ending train.  You'll be singin the blues.   

Both roads among those having what an old retired railroad man I know called the color - "loser blue"..... the color these railroads changed to, just before they went out of business.

I was trying to find the color 'loser blue' in my Sherwin Williams color swatches.  Came up empty.  Couldn't find a big sky blue either.  Closest I could come was a color called Nautilus  Who comes up with these names anyway?  I like the blue.  I like the goat.  I like the goat in a circle on the side of a boxcar painted big sky blue.  Need like a G scale version.  The side of a barn would be even better.

BSB as planned was not a loser scheme in my book. I like the original scheme, too, but when new those BSB-painted trains looked sharp. Had the blue paint held up better and not faded so quickly, I would have liked it even more. 

On the other hand, the use of mounted placards instead of painted names and logos, now that part of their cost-cutting attempt I didn't care for as much. It made the hood units look like they were part of a rental pool.

Speaking of hood units, I would LOVE to see a couple of shiny new scale SD45s in this scheme running around my layout. I'll even make sure Hustle Muscle has the lead position in the lash-up to keep things in the proper perspective. 

William 1 posted:

I was trying to find the color 'loser blue' in my Sherwin Williams color swatches.  Came up empty.  Couldn't find a big sky blue either.  Closest I could come was a color called Nautilus  Who comes up with these names anyway? 

Loser Blue, Big Sky Blue, Nautilus...whatever the blue, I'm not a fan. Paint colors were much easier to deal with when they just had numbers without all the silly names. But, numbers alone doesn't sell paint, and lets not forget who really decides...

I saw something at a furniture store once.  They had floor displays in a room.  Ans on the wall was the W-S "Cover the Earth" logo with the paint code!  

And during the last Galveston Historical Foundation Homes Tour, they had the same logo with the paint codes in the tour guide!

Great idea!

Now, I think some of this paint came from DuPont for trains.  They might have the paint codes!

GN Paint Codes are shown here.  A supplier/dealer of industrial coatings could probably match them, but your local "consumer" paint dealer probably not...   The shop that renovated "GN 441" at Essex, MT certainly found the correct paints for BSB. 

On its own, I liked the Big Sky Blue scheme on freight and passenger cars and hood units.  I liked the colors on cab and booster units, but did not care for the nose paint design.

However, I did not like the fact that these colors were replacing the iconic orange and dark green that were almost the signature of the postwar Great Northern.  

And, although the shade of blue was attractive when new, I did not like the fact that it began to fade so quickly in its life after application to the car or engine.  It soon looked too shabby for a railroad of the stature of Great Northern, which had always had well maintained cars and engines.  In that respect it was a poor choice.

The GN Man posted:

GN Paint Codes are shown here.  A supplier/dealer of industrial coatings could probably match them, but your local "consumer" paint dealer probably not...   The shop that renovated "GN 441" at Essex, MT certainly found the correct paints for BSB. 

If you join the Great Northern Railway Historical Society (GNRHS), one of the finest historical societies, you can purchase a "Reference Sheet" that has "chips" of the actual colors!  My stairs are Glacier Green and the handrails are Omaha Orange.  The "sky" in my basement is big sky blue!  :-)

The GLACIER LINE where it is GREAT NORTHERN all the time!

Go Great Northern! Rocky!  Big Sky Blue!  Green and Orange and all the other rainbow of colors used by GN.

breezinup posted:

William 1 posted:

Combine the GN BSB theme with the Rock blue scheme in one long never ending train.  You'll be singin the blues.   

Both roads among those having what an old retired railroad man I know called the color - "loser blue"..... the color these railroads changed to, just before they went out of business.

Neither GN or Conrail went out of business.  They were part of mergers and acquisitions.

IC fan posted:

breezinup posted:

William 1 posted:

Combine the GN BSB theme with the Rock blue scheme in one long never ending train.  You'll be singin the blues.   

Both roads among those having what an old retired railroad man I know called the color - "loser blue"..... the color these railroads changed to, just before they went out of business.

Neither GN or Conrail went out of business.  They were part of mergers and acquisitions.

The former Great Northern was and is one of the most successful and profitable roads on the face of the earth!  James Jerome Hill, the "Empire Builder" himself, was the man responsible for demanding that his line have the straightest path and lowest grades possible.  This line still has the LOWEST crossing of the continental divide at 5210 feet.  Thanks to Hill and of course John Stevens; who nearly froze to death re-discovering Marias Pass.

Without the aid of land grants that all the other railroads received, Hill turned the GN into a highly successful railroad that bought up numerous other roads including the: Northern Pacific, Burlington Route, Spokane, Portland and Seatlle (SP&S), and many, many smaller, lesser known roads as well.  These all became the BURLINGTON NORTHERN on "M" (Merger) day in 1970.  Then combining with the Santa Fe became the BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE (BNSF) in 1996.  

The BNSF has paid tribute to its heritage with its many paint schemes including the "pumpkin paint scheme" which is of course a favorite of most traditional green and orange paint of the GN!

This blue did NOT fade or die!  Rocky lives on!  :-)

I don't know about "people" in general.   I personally don't care for it.    Too simplistic and modernistic for my taste.     I like the orginal diesel schemes on most roads the best.    

hello guys and gals.........

I DO !!!!!, I think it is a handsome color scheme for G.N.   I have a lionel stockcar with those colors # 19574 it is a good looking car.

"We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him"  Romans 8:28" ERV (Easy to read version)

Tiffany 

Great Northern's Big Sky Blue scheme and the Northern Pacific & Burlington  Cascade Green freight car scheme were all designed as Pre-Merger schemes for the upcoming BURLINGTON NORTHERN merger. GN, NP, and CB&Q were changing the colors and graphics all at the same time because they were going to combine the colors and markings after the BN merger.

They did not apply solid blue to the locomotives.

Charcoal Grey and Big Sky Blue were applied together with white.

Andrew

Tiffany posted:

hello guys and gals.........

I DO !!!!!, I think it is a handsome color scheme for G.N.   I have a lionel stockcar with those colors # 19574 it is a good looking car.

 

Tiffany 

I'm guessing that you never saw the real "Big Sky Blue" Empire Builder. It was truly terrible!

There were still GREAT NORTHERN 7-Post, plug-door 50' box cars still in service in 1997 in the original 1967 paint scheme. I saw it in person and I liked them. I took as many photos as I could. There are videos of the GN box cars in 1990's freight trains on YouTube. 

Andrew

The LIONEL 2018 catalog has the Great Northern Big Sky Blue GE U33C diesel-electric locomotives and a matching Extended-Vision Caboose. They are Built to Order with a March 2018 deadline. 

Andrew

rdj92807 posted:

I love the GN Big SKy Blue paint scheme.  It's very good looking, and the 21 inch K-Line/Lionel cars are beautiful.  So are the MTH F45s.  This scheme looked great on GN F7s also.

 

Train guys who don't like this scheme, probably think PRR or NYC paint schemes were awesome.  NOT.

Totally agree.  BSB looks awesome vs many bland, boring railroad paint schemes like PRR and NYC.

I always thought Big Sky Blue looked pretty good on cowl and hood units:

F-Units, not so much...

Rusty

Yuk to the blue scheme, I liked the green and orange so much that when Harley Davidson offered it a long time ago I bought a Softail in it.

Bogie

Green & orange GN paint..yuck! Todays BNSF paint schemes...yuckety yuck 

I like the scheme, but I like the PRR schemes better.   I don't discriminate much when it comes to paint schemes even if I do have my favorites. 

BSB was a sign of the times and in the whole late 60's rebranding of railroad images, this one is one of the better ones.  Bold and colorful and relevant to the locale the railroad operated in.  CP Rail was interesting for it's time as well.  PC was pretty boring.  

I like the blue. I don't have any locos or cars with that scheme in my collection, but love pictures of it. When I was out in the Sand Hills of Nebraska I found this boxcar that is being used as a storage shed.

I just erased what I wrote down about BSB paint job. Decided it was better not to write anything at all.

Clem

I am just surprised GN did not purchase FP45's.

Never...

I do here's mine

1 pullmore no horn bought at train show last year 

Dominic, by the time the FP45 was developed for ATSF, GN was already fully committed to the SDP40 and SDP45 models. GN did, of course, buy many F45 freight units. 

Big Sky Blue was executed a lot better than Rock blue:

Rusty

Rusty Traque posted:

Big Sky Blue was executed a lot better than Rock blue:

Rusty

The R of The Rock looks like some sort of virus under an electron microscope.

The GN Man posted:

Dominic, by the time the FP45 was developed for ATSF, GN was already fully committed to the SDP40 and SDP45 models. GN did, of course, buy many F45 freight units. 

True, but a FP45 leading the EB would look great.  Did any of the F45's have pass through passenger lines for steam and signal lines?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

The GN Man posted:

Dominic, by the time the FP45 was developed for ATSF, GN was already fully committed to the SDP40 and SDP45 models. GN did, of course, buy many F45 freight units. 

True, but a FP45 leading the EB would look great.  Did any of the F45's have pass through passenger lines for steam and signal lines?

No, not the GN/BN units.  The second batch for the Santa Fe did have pass through's, though.

Rusty

falconservice posted:

The Great Northern woodchip gondolas are most likely still in the Big Sky Blue scheme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atlas O, Lionel, or MTH can make the wood chip gondolas in the GN Blue scheme.

 

 

Andrew

No one has made them yet--August 2018...that's why I'm in the process of making my own.  I still am working with the decals to get them to the prototypically correct size...in process

yes...