FM Train Master Prototypes: Virginian and N&W Markings Running Simultaneously?

It probably depends on what era you're trying to model. Pevlar came to the N&W in 1964, and the blue engine painting began, I believe, in 1966. Once Fishwick took over in 1970, they switched to black. By late 1973, at least one (173) had lost its hamburger and was in the B&W NW paint. By 1974, they'd started appearing at Naporano's for scrapping. I've seen a 1962 picture of one (168, formerly 68) still in Virginian paint, but renumbered by N&W, so it's likely that following the 1959 merger most weren't repainted until Pevlar showed up.

So, if you want to be prototypically correct, it'd be a lot more likely to find one unit in Pevlar blue and one in Virginian paint, but renumbered. Black hamburger logo ones wouldn't have ever shown up with one in Virginian paint. Of course, you could always repaint the blue on the dummy Virginian unit black, or weather it so the blue looks like a faded black.

Then again, it's YOUR railroad, so run whatever makes you happy!

I don't have a definite answer for you but it would seem like that an engine wouldn't be repainted until it needed a major shopping and maybe not even then. You could safely mix Virginian and N&W FM's until at least the mid 60's.

The Virginian FM's had 2 digit road numbers. When the N&W took over they added a leading 1 to the number so VGN FM 58 became N&W 158 even if it had not been repainted. Also I think N&W added black road numbers on the lower part of the cab as Virginian only had the road number displayed on the number board. Probably will need to find a photo to confirm that.

I believe initial repaints were all black with yellow lettering. I have a color picture of an N&W FM in black with the early N&W diesel squiggly herald coupled to two blue FM's with the N&W hamburger herald.

Ken

Came across some additional info regarding N&W Paint:

From Chap 11 of N&W 2nd Generation Diesels........

Scheme F1- Int'd in 1955 - all black with gold lettering of the type used
on N&W steam locomotives, and w/o any medallion.

Scheme F2 -black with Gothic medallion on the cab sides and Norfolk And
Western written out on the hood - all lettering in dulux gold.
Introduced in 1958.

Scheme F3 - black body with half-moon N&W medallion on cab sides and
ends, and Norfolk And Western spelled out along the hood - all lettering
in dulux gold. Intr'd Dec 1963.

Scheme F4 - same as F3 except back became N&W blue. Intr'd Jan 1966.
Many Wabash and Nickel Plate locomotives were REPAINTED into this scheme.

Scheme F5 - short-lived - Serif "N&W" 24 inches tall on the hood woth
half-moon medallion. Intro'd early 1970 but rejected by the private
consulting firm that designed the NW logo. Jut over 50 units received
this.

Scheme F6 - black with white NW. Intr'd 1971.

Interesting information and thanks. Seems I will be good to go with black and, per the pictures below, either the squiggly or the hamburger logo.  I like the squiggly if I can find the decals.  Pevlar blue is apparently hard to match and I don't trust myself to turn the blue/ yellow into black / yellow.

Am I correct that N&W had no FMs in its fleet at the time of the Virginian merger and the only other other ones on the roster may have shown up with the Wabash merger in 1964?

I found this at trainboard with details supposedly based on "Norfolk & western Second Generation Diesels" by Withers publishing (which i don't have).  The pictures seem to be consistent with this information.

1955-1958 Black, Gold Lettering "Norfolk And Western" spelt out
1958-1963 Black, dulux gold (yellow) lettering spelt out and medallion
1963-1966 Black, as above, but half-moon (hamburger) medallion
1966-1970 Blue, hamburger medallion, spelt out lettering
1970 U30B's 8465-8515 delivered in black with hamburger (same as 63-66 scheme)
1970-71 Black, Dulux Gold N&W serif initials & Hamburger logo, lots of variations
1971-1981 Black, Block "NW" scheme.
1981 "Skunk" scheme on 3x GP38AC, white horizontal stripe with Norfolk And Western in black.
1981-82 Final scheme, black with Norfolk and Western in white spelt out

@Magicland posted:

Came across some additional info regarding N&W Paint:

From Chap 11 of N&W 2nd Generation Diesels........

Scheme F1- Int'd in 1955 - all black with gold lettering of the type used
on N&W steam locomotives, and w/o any medallion.

Scheme F2 -black with Gothic medallion on the cab sides and Norfolk And
Western written out on the hood - all lettering in dulux gold.
Introduced in 1958.

Scheme F3 - black body with half-moon N&W medallion on cab sides and
ends, and Norfolk And Western spelled out along the hood - all lettering
in dulux gold. Intr'd Dec 1963.

Scheme F4 - same as F3 except back became N&W blue. Intr'd Jan 1966.
Many Wabash and Nickel Plate locomotives were REPAINTED into this scheme.

Scheme F5 - short-lived - Serif "N&W" 24 inches tall on the hood woth
half-moon medallion. Intro'd early 1970 but rejected by the private
consulting firm that designed the NW logo. Jut over 50 units received
this.

Scheme F6 - black with white NW. Intr'd 1971.

Thanks for the research, that must be a good book! These details are a lot more descriptive than what I found. Interesting the Wabash locos appear to have become blue.

The only N&W liveried FM's that I saw were black with gold lettering. They were very faded too with the gold lettering almost white!