Santa Fe Red/Silver or Blue/Yellow?

I think red/silver was for passenger and blue/yellow for freight. Original intent didn't last though.

You can generally say that for the Santa Fe the red and silver were the passenger engine colors and the blue and yellow were the freight engine colors.   

It lasted all the way to Amtrak.

Granted, there were exceptions: the FT set 167LABC was equipped with a steam generator and delivered in freight colors (proof of concept?)  10 more FT sets were converted and repainted in passenger colors for several years before returning to freight duties and colors.

Also the 325 class F7's, while painted in passenger colors, were geared as dual service locomotives, suitable for passenger or freight duties.

"Freight" locomotives in "passenger" colors began in ernest in 1989 with the introduction of Santa Fe's "Super Fleet."

Rusty

I believe dgauss and Joe are correct. That being said, when someone refers to Santa Fe I always visualize the red/silver color scheme.

this thread should be of interest.

https://ogrforum.com/t...ly=18887627693324655

It gets better. In addition to the "bonnet" schemes which were prevalent on the cab units, there was the "Cat Whisker" scheme with a blue body with yellow pinstripes and a nose herald that had cat whisker stripes. There was another similar scheme without the whiskers, instead having the cross and a broad yellow vertical stripe.

On the "hood" units, you had blue with pinstripes; "Zebra" strips which were black with silver safety stripes (sometimes white); "bookend" or "nose patch" which was blue with yellow ends; and blue/yellow warbonnet. Superfleet kicked in in the 1980's going back to red and silver.

Then there was the infamous "Shouldn't have Painted So Fast" Kodachrome scheme from an anticipated merger with Southern Pacific which appeared to be the SP red from the daylight scheme with a Santa Fe yellow warbonnet and black trim. I liked that scheme. Alas, that merger got killed, but they let UP grab CNW, WP, SP, MP, and MKT afterward (don't get me started on BNSF).

I really like the silver and red best [I bought an ABA passenger set silver and red for my dad] but the blue and yellow is also nice. I did not know that the blue and yellow were for freight. Thanks for sharing this information and hopefully I'll be able to give some information along the way to help someone else out. When I went automotive school the very first thing the teacher told us was that the only dumb question is an unasked question so from that lesson learned I always try to help out where I can. happy railroading everyone Choo Choo kenny

My favorite colors are the Red and Silver passenger set of locomotives.

Back in the early '70's., my wife bought me MPC/Lionel GP7/9 powered and dummy Santa Fe freight locomotives.

At the time I did not know any better, as the locos. were black and yellow.

Now, I know that these MPC/Lionel locomotives are a fantasy color scheme, had I known back then, I might have brought them back.

Ralph

Maybe an advantage of being exposed to scale model HO in my teens is reading in

MR about blue/yellow-red/silver, freight-passenger... and noting Athearn F units in those colors...I never got around to getting one, though, but for ATSF, I prefer the

freight colors, maybe just because it is less common that the others.

Silver and red.  Blue and yellow - well it is better than nothing, but nothing to me Warbonnet will also be what I rode on as a kid: rumbling diesel-powered silver and red. 

 I kind of prefer the older blue scheme with a little yellow in it. I think these were on the (as delivered) SD45s?? I saw it first on a Aristo G scale SD45 engine and had to research it to see if it was correct.

 I grew up seeing the war bonnet type circle design with the blue and yellow too. So I'd pick that on the older freight engines.

 I do like Matt's red & silver modern GE MTH war bonnets.

Always liked that on the F's.

 So many engines to get. Why do you guys keep reminding me of all the ones I don't have??? (divorce????) I'm crumbling again. Three more engines to get......

A fantasy scheme?

Absolutely a fantasy scheme.  The PA's were only painted red and silver.  Not that this doesn't look nice.

Meanwhile I've toyed with the idea of doing Zebra stripe F-7's.

Stuart

To me, the ATSF zebras rock!

I agree. One of Frank Swafford's best Isle of Denial schemes is a zebra-stripe ES44AC. Sometimes I think about getting one (or another SD70ACe) just to put that scheme on it to pair up with my red/silver warbonnet SD70ACe. 

One of the switching railroads which was related to the SF in the LA area have new heavy duty ATSF style zebras!

The ATSF zebras have that Oakland Raider uniform look!

Anytime I hear Santa Fe, this is what I think of.

It's what I grew up seeing, and thus what I enjoy.  I still need to get myself some painted up this way to have a nice long train.

This has been out there for a while, but it's a fun read:

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/tm-1.html

ATSF F-7A #347C, the warbonnet diesel at the Cal State RR Museum when donated in 1986 was painted in Yellow bonnet paint. I believed ATSF repainted it to Red/Silver Warbonnet at the old Santa Fe San Bernardino Shops, possibly the last loco painted there.

My choice is red & silver, but I don't discriminate when it comes to Santa Fe

I think that all of the Santa Fe schemes were wonderful.   The old Santa Fe really had the class when it came to diesel paint styles and colors.

Joe

Well, you have Leland Knickerboker of the GM Art and Color Department to thank for the Santa Fe Warbonnet.

Rusty

Different paint schemes on passenger & freight diesels was commonly used on many railroads. Even New York Central used different paint schemes on passenger & freight diesels including in the cigar band era.

Then there was the infamous "Shouldn't have Painted So Fast" Kodachrome scheme from an anticipated merger with Southern Pacific which appeared to be the SP red from the daylight scheme with a Santa Fe yellow warbonnet and black trim. I liked that scheme. Alas, that merger got killed, but they let UP grab CNW, WP, SP, MP, and MKT afterward (don't get me started on BNSF).

Kodachrome scheme 

Current GN/NP paint..ugh 

BNSF should have kept the SF Warbonnet schemes or at least do something with the BN Cascade Green, Black & White.

They did both...

There's a few different variations of the (original) BNSF merger scheme, and some of them are still running around today.

Ah, the ever lov'n "Barf Bonnet."

Probably had old Leland spinning in his grave so fast he could generate electricity...

Rusty

A quick run-down of Santa Fe paint schemes:

Modern, pre-merger, blue-yellow freight

Modern, pre-merger, Superfleet

Technically, this was a Santa Fe locomotive

The Kodachrome scheme

BiCentennial

Cat whiskers

The "bookend" paint scheme

Zebra stripes (applied to a modern Pacific Harbor Line locomotive)

Warbonnet

War-"ish"-bonnet

Yellow-bonnet

Blue-bonnet

Gold-bonnet

Pink-bonnet

Vomit-bonnet

The ONLY trains that actually GO to Santa Fe

You can also find the Santa Fe in Europe

Any info on the Gold Bonnet PA, never heard of it.

It was for a GE promotion.  The gold paint was only on for a month or two.  The locomotive was repainted when the promotion ended.

Rusty

The FT set 167 did pull passenger trains between Chicago and California/Texas between Feb 1945 and Sep 1946 in the original catwhiskers cream/yellow and blue (no lower headlight either).  I've asked Jonathan if he could number one set (there will most likely be 4 different numbered sets) of early 3rd Rail ATSF FTs in 167 for that very reason.  All one would need to do is add the steam generator vents (and they might well be available as spare parts).

Sorry but that's not Cascade Green...that appears to be the ugly GN/NP green that's in use today.

This is what I'm talking about..

Blue/yellow is my favorite.  My first ever HO engine was a Tyco F unit painted in the blue/yellow freight scheme.  That sealed the deal for me, even with its broken rear coupler.  I have a fantasy MTH Dash-8 40CW painted in blue/yellow and I dig it.  I also really like the 9647 paint scheme (have a MTH PS-1).  Silver/red is nice, just can't get behind the current BNSF scheme.  I tried to like it, looks ok on the SD70ACe, might just be cuz I like that locomotive...

Laidoffsick, I like your SF wall, very nice.

A few years ago, Lionel offered an uncatalogued blue & yellow Merchandiser paint scheme F-3. It was not a good seller.

The original Merchandiser paint scheme had red accent stripes and was vary hansom.

I also believe that was what is referred to as the cat-whisker scheme

It was later simplified by removing the red stripes and later by changing the nose herold to the same as the War-Bonnets

Back to the original post for a second...the Milwaukee Road traditionally used orange and maroon on passenger cars, going back to the 1880's-90's, and used an orange / maroon / gray paintscheme when they introduced the Hiawatha in 1934. In 1955, the Milwaukee signed a deal with Union Pacific to run UP passenger trains between Omaha and Chicago. UP didn't reach Chicago, and had previously used C&NW to get their trains to Chicago. One stipulation in the UP/Milw agreement was Milwaukee had to provide a certain number of passenger cars for the trains, and they had to be the same yellow and gray colors used on UP trains. After a few years, Milwaukee decided to just adopt the UP scheme for all their passenger cars and diesels. Freight diesels continued to use orange (orange and black) however.

How'sabout something like this?

Or this??

"Mr. Traque, time for your medications now..."

Rusty