Originally Posted by Southwest Hiawatha:
When customers are paying 500 bucks per unit for a diesel, it's hardly surprising that for that kind of money they want it to be painted the right color. It ain't rocket science.
Not rocket science . . . but I think it is indeterminate. And who appointed anyone here the the judge and jury? Any locomotive restored or existing today is not necessarily painted the exact color of the original - many are shinier, neater and better painted that way back when. I was young, yeah, but I remember seeing gobs of UP, SF, and Rio Grande locos in the 50s - they were different colors and never matched perfectly as to stripes and trim - they were working locos, painted by people whose job was to get them out of the shop and into service. My uncle was one of those guys. He took me down to the trainyards a lot.
Nor can we be certain that those rail lines that still use the same color schemes today use exactly the same colors as why back when. I've seen BNSF locos recently back to back that differed greatly in hue and details of paint trim, etc.
And any color photos from way back when are not necessarily true to color. Records of paint mixes, etc., might be right or not.
My point is that anyone who claims they know for sure has, in my opinion, unwarranted confidence in their opinion. Maybe Lionel, or MTH, or Williams got the color wrong and don't know what they are doing. Maybe they do know and its the critics that don't.
Regardless, I won't completely trust anyone on actual color, but on balance I tend to cut the manufactuer some slack for the above reasons, as long as they make an effort on quality of paint, trim and print.
And there is a very simple remedy: if you don't like the look, don't buy the loco. Throwing rocks at it and labeling things as mistakes is, to me, vastly overreaching.
Here we go again - fasten your seat belts! 
