Locomotives in Non-Prototypical Paint Schemes?

I'm pretty "serious" about this stuff, unless I'm not - the joke is that I lean toward

accuracy unless I just like the blasted thing. I have a Williams ATSF Blue Goose -

which is actually a sub-scale N&W 4-8-4, certainly not a Santa Fe Hudson, as it

should be. It - and the price - just hit me right some years ago.

 

I seldom get creative with 1:48 items relative to their presentation - but I can.

Also depends on the road - I pretty much leave NYC stuff as NYC stuff; don't mess with success.

 

Mostly I shower the imagination on the RK or Traditional-sized stuff.

 

I did a Marx/K-line ("K-Marx") 333/666 2-4-2 Ver 2.0 a while back. It's now a Pacific...

I'll have to photograph it. 

Thomas,

 

in reading your post, I am reminded of all the brilliant colors that restorers of old

vehicles use.

 

living in the area where we have "Cruzin the Coast" I see so many "out of pro typical"

adaptions that I think the idea must have spilled over into the World's Gratest Hobby" !!

I personally do not purchase items painted in inaccurate schemes; however, these models seem to sell well and, if other people enjoy them and they're good for the manufacturing bottom line, then there good for the hobby as a whole.

 

Bob 

I have a Union Pacific GP-9 or something that Lionel said in its catalog was a somewhat fantasy scheme or something - but it looked good so I bought and like it.  Please realize though that I'm the person who repainted a N&W J in UP greyhound colors so I'm probably not one to ask about if those things bother me at all.  

I recently saw a B & O "49er" in the traditional B & O colors for sale.  I am not much of a train historian but I don't think I've seen that combination before.

Interested but didn't pull the trigger. 

 

It doesn't bother me.  You get used to seeing everything painted in the war bonnet and PRR paint schemes.  Nothing wrong with that at all, but it can be confusing for newcomers to our hobby that want the real thing.  It would be nice if manufacturers listed in their descriptions wether or not the paint scheme was prototypical.  Fantasy items will still sell.

I agree. 

If I ever want to convince myself NOT to buy something, I look for prototype pictures. 

How about The big Green Machine #614.  It looks yougly!

Models in non prototypical paint schemes have been produced in all scales for many years. Below is a sampling of Con-Cor's N scale NYC J3a painted in a wide variety of liveries.

 

Bob

 

I think that in order to justify the tooling on more obscure locomotives some liberties will need to be taken. They aren't building any more steam engines and I dare say there are enough N&W Js and GS-4s to last us until the zombie apocalypse.

I once bought a Yankees cap in Oakland As colors because I have 42,000 navy blue ones and I like the green and yellow to match my Dublin track jacket. Derek Jeter's never going to wear one but I kinda like it. Specialty engines used by only one line might need this treatment or else we'll be paying out the nose when Sunset and Weaver release them inimited quantities.

Just my thoughts....

Even though it was black, I passed on the N&W Allegheny. If it's not a correct N&W engine (let alone the correct paint job), there is no interest from me. I have enough on my hands just trying to get good examples of the N&W alphabet soup of steamers.

 

Gilly 

 

I do appreciate the attention Scott Mann at 3rd Rail has given to N&W with the K2a, TE-1, Y6b, and the upcoming Class M. Still have my fingers crossed that a S1a and Z1 will someday be produced.

I for one run and play with my "toy" trains.  I do this because there is so much "serious" stuff surrounding my daily life, I just want to enjoy O gauge trains and have fun.  To me, colorful engines and cars are a must.

 

I'm running my trains on 3 rail track in the first place, they are passing through industrial areas and towns that I created myself.  It's a wonder world of make believe and there are no boundaries, no set rules no regulations.  We just don't sweat the small stuff on my railroad.....it's a toy train.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex 

 

 

Not all that long ago, MTH put out a fantasy version (Premier Line, I think) of a CNJ F3 set.  I'm not even from the East but I desperately wanted those engines as I was in love with that paint scheme.  Procrastinated too long.  Probably for the best.. or was it.

Just chalk it up to living on the Isle of Denial. It works for me.

 

 

It bothers me only when they put out these fantasy paint schemes and don't cover all the actual RRs that owned the item.

 

Some folks like myself try to follow a certain prototypical RR, others don't.  When I see something new I start pulling out books to see if the RR offered even had the item.  Just the other day I saw an Atlas boxcar painted for ACL.  Wouldn't mind having it, but the photo shows it with a silver/aluminum roof, from the books I have ACL didn't paint these cars like that.

 

That's an easy fix really and some things I see are so good that all it would take is a new paint job and decals.  Problem is these days O scale decal suppliers are drying up.  I've even contacted some of the companies to see if they're going to offer a certain car in my RR of choice and most times never got an answer back.

 

If you're serious about modeling a given RR, then look before you leap and make sure they had the item in question.

I don't generally buy locomotives with fantasy paint schemes, but I will occasionally paint one myself, just for fun. I plan to paint a couple of K-Line GG-1's in Milwaukee Road schemes, one in black and one in Hiawatha maroon and orange. I also bought a K-Line semi-scale Dreyfuss Hudson with the specific intention of repainting it to go with a repro Rail Chief passenger set. 

 

I was also tempted by Lionel's Milwaukee Road DD35, but it was just too much money for a diesel, as I am mainly a steam guy. 

This is an interesting and timely topic for me; let me convey my thoughts on this topic.

 

In 1999 or early 2000 I was visiting a new customer of mine, EMD. Working with the in house photographer to make the switch from film to digital we had a bit of down time and the topic of “old” original art came up.

 

While some of the art has been published in various articles, I was shown some new “old” art that I had not seen before. I can tell you that what we see in the prototype world vs. what “could have been” is in some cases night and day.

 

The EMD art department presented some beautiful art work to the customers only to have the customer select, in my opinion, a lesser design.

 

Maybe cost or ease of maintenance was the consideration, but the work I saw, which would fit the category of “fantasy” today, was very attractive. I would buy a book on the subject of EMD art proposals if one were to be written.

 

So, back to the original question, I generally do not like fantasy paint schemes, but if there was a scheme originally proposed by EMD, that could be substantiated with photos I might go for a fantasy scheme.

 

Charlie

I look at this subject on a case by case basis. The Sante Fe Genset shown above, I like whether it is prototypical or not.

I agree.  That is one sharp looking genset.

My interest in non-protypical paint schemes is driven more by finances. With limited resources the prototype paint schemes get first priority.

 

Speaking of which, does anyone know, for sure, if Conrail had any Genset units?? I could not locate any prototypical images.

 

 

Think back on the front half of an ALCO FA that was displayed at the 1965 Worlds Fair in the Long Island Railroad Dashing Dan Paint scheme. Talk about real life fantasy paint!!!  This was years before that railroad even owned an ALCO FA.  I believe the sister to that front half of an FA was later acquired and ran as a control cab but only saw the Metropolitan color schemes. 

I usually just buy prototype paint schemes but when I saw the Lionel AC6000 in the war bonnet scheme, well I just had to have it. Plus every time I see the genset in the red and silver I get the urge to buy one. 

 

 

No. Conrail did not have any GenSet units on its roster.

 

Bob

This kind of stuff has been going on for years.  The Lionel Santa Fe "Black Bonnet" F units (black instead of silver), Jersey Central blue and tangerine FM Train Master (the real ones were only painted green with double yellow stripes), and Virginian blue and yellow FM Train Masters and GE Rectifiers (real ones were black not blue).

 

What is really important to remember is that as long as the buyer is happy with the models then that's all that matters (to the seller).

 

Stuart

 

I painted a Pennsy steam turbin blue and put Conrail decals on the tender. Also added elephant ears. Did this for a friend. It came out looking good. Don

 

 

Non-Prototypical paint schemes? On 3-rail O-gauge locos? Perish the thought!  lol

 

Here's my prototypically accurate N&W steamer. Not the real N&W, just my O-27 version.

Since I am building the prototype, whatever paint job I give my locos is accurate!  LOL

Doesn't bother me at all. If I like it I would buy it.

I have a huge respect for the guys who go out of their way to nail all the details and make them as accurate as possible. It's an admirable attention to detail. That said, when someone points out that something is "wrong" my counterpoint is that I don't see too many of these trains in real life running on tracks that have 3 evenly spaced rails!

 

Of course for some of these layouts are so amazingly detailed it's probably a good thing that third rail is present otherwise you'd think you were looking at a photo of a real train. 

 

At the end of the day the hobby is big enough that everyone can have their vision of what is "right".