M&StL

[upjake]

What was the original paint scheme that the Minneapolis and St.Louis had for its early diesels, mainly the many RS-1s that the railroad bought. The only color photos of RS-1s I have seen are from the 1957-later period with the red/white colors.

[garyla]

Before going to red and white, M&StL diesels had a variety of schemes mostly involving green and yellow, with gray or red or whatever thrown in.  For a small road, that company must have spent a lot of money on paint.

I would suggest that you acquire a copy of Minneapolis & St. Louis in Color by Gene Green, published by Morning Sun Books.  It's an interesting book for almost any railfan, but should be especially so for you.

You might be a much more skilled painter than I am, and would find some of the early schemes to be a good challenge.  But if I even tried to paint those, the M&StL nickname "Misery and Short Life" would probably never stop going through my head! 

EDIT:  The suggested book has a listing of NINE different paint schemes for the RS-1!  See page 112.

[Anonymous]

upjake,

The M&StL dieselized early and wanted to show the world that they had come out of their long depression and become modern.  The company obviously wanted to show this image to the public.  However, if all of their RS-1s were painted the same color, the public would not have been able to tell the difference, and therefore not know how many the company owned.  So to prove that they owned more than just one or two, the company made them all look different by giving them unique paint schemes.  The shop employees were often allowed to develop the unique paint schemes.

However, they did have a standard green, yellow, and red scheme that was eventually replaced by the red and white scheme.  I believe this earlier standard scheme was applied to the first RS-1s.  I think they looked the best in that standard green, yellow, and red scheme.  You could contact the Chicago & North Western Historical Society to get the details of the Alco custom paint jobs.  I think there were more than just nine.

[jeffhergert]

I looked thru a few books dealing with the M&STL, including the one mentioned previously.

It seems the first nine RS-1's were each delivered in a different scheme.  All subsequent RS-l's were delivered in one of the original schemes.

Some interesting tidbits from the books.  At the time, the M&STL had the largest fleet of RS-l's in the US.  They were ordered on a one for one basis to replace steam engines.  Because of that, they weren't built with MU capabilities.

The Boone & Scenic Valley RR painted their RS-l as a M&STL in the blue and gray scheme.  However, the engine isn't an original M&STL engine. 

Jeff 

[Boxcar_Melvin]

 

[upjake]

Ok thanks. Explains why I was so confused having seen a circus of engine colors in various photos. It is too bad the road came out with the classic white/red livery just a few years before the C&NW took over.

[aricat]

The Louie painted its switch engines black; an interesting sidenote about this is what happened the first night that a diesel switcher worked Cedar Lake Yards. The engine had been broken in down at Albert Lea Minnesota and was brought up to work the Cedar Lake Yards in late October 1938.It was scheduled to work the 2nd trick on October 31,1938. Cedar Lake Yards were in a quite isolated area of Minneapolis which then as now is very upscale. This is also the night that Orson Welles broadcast War of The Worlds on CBS. The neighbors who were used to hearing a steam switcher and when they heard the new sound of an EMC switcher they thought that an alien spaceship had landed right in their upscale neighborhood. The sound of Minneapolis Police squads racing for the Cedar Lake Yards shook quiet Kenwood. One of the cop cars carried Minneapolis mayor Leach. The M&StL crew who had been going about their business, found themselves the target of heavily armed police. In a few minutes someone figured out this was not ET's spaceship but a switch engine. The cops left and the crew went back to work.

[wjstix]

I've heard similar stories about the first trains to use Mars lights or other gyrating lights on passenger trains - police would get calls about alien spaceships landing etc.

Referencing the "Minneapolis & St.Louis in Color" book, it shows that in total the M-St.L had 35 RS-1s, in nine different paint schemes. They and other M-St.L diesels were numbered as close as possible to the date they were rec'd...so an engine bought in Sept 1950 might be No. 950, while the same type of engine bought six months later could be No. 451.

Lucien Sprague took over the receivership and later the presidency of the long-time bankrupt MStL in the thirties and changed it's fortunes around. He was the one who pushed dieselization, and came up with the interesting paint schemes. (One rumor is that he consulted the "office girls" to help choose colors.) He also oversaw buying many new freight cars and other modernizations.  Unfortunately in a way, these changes made the railroad more appealing for someone like CNW to take over.

Albert Schroeder became the M-St.L president in 1956 and instituted the red and white scheme - partly because he had gone to the Univ. of Nebraska. It wasn't uncommon then that diesel paint scheme colors came from a local college, or a college the RR president went to.

It's an interesting railroad. My mom's uncle, Hugo "Peggy" Olson, worked in the railroad's HQ in Minneapolis for many years. IIRC he retired about the time the CNW bought the road.