No question, that two-tone green the NP used was quite classic, I can see why it's still popular today with those who model railroads from that part of the country.
The Erie used a two-tone green passenger scheme for long-distance trains during the diesel era that was also quite handsome. After the merger with the Lackawanna all the long distance diesel units were repainted into the Lackawanna's passenger scheme, which was pretty good as well.
Commuter train diesels pretty much kept their old Erie black and yellow paint jobs, with E-L modifiers.
ALL:
Being an NP man, the NP passenger locomotive colors were the best! A newly painted BN locomotive was also very sharp. Just a side note on the BN, two of the well worn GP30's were on a special nuclear train from Monticello, Minnesota to Northtown (I don't know the destination of the train). There was a lot of TV coverage on that train. The locomotives looked like crap, rusty and dirty!. They were immediately sent to the paint shop and received fresh paint. The GN blue was a short lived color from 1967 to 1970. Big Sky Blue looked great on a solid train of blue cars, but mixed in with other cars, they stood out like a sore thumb. In addition, the paint in both blue passenger cars and locomotives (along with GN freight equipment) did not weather well and began to "powder (fade) quickly.
All kidding aside -- I actually like pemmican. Imagine Slim Jims with the good taste of the meat put back into them, and added ingredients to boost the flavor.
There are also versions with additional berries and nuts in addition to the meat.
The only thing you can do wrong when making the stuff is improperly render the fat so it can acquire a rancid taste. It's still edible (especially if you're hungry with no other food handy) just not as tasty.
Back when I was doing a lot of hiking and camping Ramsey Outdoor Store had something they called "pemmican" in the trail foods section. Bought some for a hiking expedition and it wasn't bad at all, but from my reading about polar expeditions and the various goings on in the "Great North Woods" I knew it wasn't the real stuff.
No, I don't remember who made it at this point, although I do remember the trail foods were dominated by the Mountain House brand of freeze-dried foods.
Overmod's mention of the Rum Babas can reminded me of something. Anyone out there remember when coffee came in a can with it's own opening key, and that first great "pooooosh!" when the seal was broken and the aroma shot out? Oh, those were the days!
Of course, none of this has anything to do with "Railroad Oscars" but what the hell, we're having fun!
Firelock76Let me tell 'ya, if there's folks out there who hate fruitcake it's because they never had a good one. A well-done fruitcake can make a Christmas one you'll never forget. We always had a great fruitcake, Grandma and then Dad saw to that. Or maybe you have to be Italian (and from North Jersey!) to get the best out of one.
Now, it is very true that there is fruitcake, and then there are fruitcakes. I'm not talking about the 'real thing' -- I'm talking about the kind people send each other as 'presents' (usually when at something of a loss as what meaningful to send). The kind with the benzaldehyde flavor, engineered-wood consistency, and vulcanized high-durometer elasticity.
That last comment brought up something highly related to fruitcake, in the same gift-basket-fiasco category: Rum Babas. AKA Molotov cocktails in a can.
I clearly remember the family receiving one of these when I was a fairly small child. How excited I was at the prospect of opening the can -- it was one of the first that had its own opening tab, a bit like sardines with the key, as I remember -- and taking out the delicacy inside!
How my mouth burned and burned at the first savage touch! (And that texture, so like pumice stone carefully soaked in kerosene)
Now if you were to make something like these with real Czech slivovitz, 140 proof and ethereal as the apotheosis of cherries ... you'd have something. Just be sure to raise your tray-tables to the full upright position and extinguish all smoking materials before indulging...
Pemmican ... A solid brick that will last centuries.
While you are actively eating on it.
The trend lately has been to pour a bottle of rum or whiskey into it while it is being "constructed". While it is a significant improvement it is a waste of a perfectly good rum or whiskey.
Pemmican is the correct approximation... Eventually Hardtack as well, if all mashed up then Suet. I have seen real pemmican up here, made by the Cree, that looks exactly like Fruitcake. A solid brick that will last centuries.
To each his own.
Thank you, Firelock; I know now that there is at least one person out there who will not call me a fruit. My mother may have learned from her favorite aunt how to make them (though I never ate one of hers).
Johnny
Let me tell 'ya, if there's folks out there who hate fruitcake it's because they never had a good one. A well-done fruitcake can make a Christmas one you'll never forget.
We always had a great fruitcake, Grandma and then Dad saw to that. Or maybe you have to be Italian (and from North Jersey!) to get the best out of one.
I forgot to add we knew the Holidays were truly over and only the long dreary winter was ahead of us when the last of the fruitcake, the Scottish short bread, and those cookies Mom made out of an honest-to-God hand-cranked Mirro cookie press were gone.
Lady Firestorm has two Mirro presses. "Only REAL WOMEN know how to use a Mirro press!" she likes to say.
Overmod Miningman Survival kits up here in the sub polar climate Northern Saskatchewan contain 'cheesies' because they burn like logs and are excellent fire starters, or you can eat them, whichever is the pressing necessity. In other words, fulfilling the same purpose as fruitcakes do in the Lower 48 during the winter around Yuletide. It is a little-known fact that there are only about 120 fruitcakes at any given time; it seems like more because people keep giving them away so quickly. I thought when I was in my teens that these were the basis for the Keynes theory of the velocity of money.
Miningman Survival kits up here in the sub polar climate Northern Saskatchewan contain 'cheesies' because they burn like logs and are excellent fire starters, or you can eat them, whichever is the pressing necessity.
In other words, fulfilling the same purpose as fruitcakes do in the Lower 48 during the winter around Yuletide.
It is a little-known fact that there are only about 120 fruitcakes at any given time; it seems like more because people keep giving them away so quickly. I thought when I was in my teens that these were the basis for the Keynes theory of the velocity of money.
MiningmanSurvival kits up here in the sub polar climate Northern Saskatchewan contain 'cheesies' because they burn like logs and are excellent fire starters, or you can eat them, whichever is the pressing necessity.
It is a little-known fact that there are only about 120 fruitcakes at any given time; it seems like more because people keep giving them away so quickly. (This was also said to explain their pemmican-like "texture" as some of them actually date to the 15th Century when current pressed fruitcakes were invented.) I thought when I was in my teens that these were an inspiration and basis for the Keynes theory of the velocity of money.
So a Navigation Co., a Railroad, a Coal Miner and a Confectionary candy manufacturer...quite a diversification. Candy lasted the longest.
Chocolate covered cherries eh? I'm a "cheesies" connoisseur ...most are pretty bad but there is one company that uses real cheddar. Pretty tasty I tell ya. Survival kits up here in the sub polar climate Northern Saskatchewan contain 'chessies' because they burn like logs and are excellent fire starter, or you can eat them, whichever is the pressing necessity.
Firelock76However, and it probably had something to do with the paint used, that color scheme didn't age well at all, most were pretty ratty looking when the 'road shut down.
I think it was the cement dust that did that.
If I recall correctly, the parent company made a locally famous candy* well into the 1980s, and when they sold that off it was finally time to 'call it quits'.
*You can keep your wine snobbery and caviar snobbery - I confess to being delighted to find there was chocolate-covered-cherry snobbery ... look for the liquid center instead of that pasty, slimy whitish stuff in lesser confections.
Overmod, see if you can find a color shot of one of those L&NE ALCOS when they were all shiny and brand new, it really was a pretty striking paint scheme.
However, and it probably had something to do with the paint used, that color scheme didn't age well at all, most were pretty ratty looking when the 'road shut down.
Don't remember where I read this, but supposedly the L&NE was the only part of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company that was making any money at the end with the parent company bleeding off the profits to keep all the other divisions aloat, they did haul other things besides coal and cement, but that didn't make any difference to the parent company, they just packed it all in and sold off the assets.
Nice to seem some "action" over here on the "Classic Trains" site, usually there's nothing going on over here.
MiningmanNever seen this before...are you kidding me!? How?..... Speechless
At least that was designed by kids. How about when the guys who design wraps for those lawn-service trucks get a larger commission...
http://www.trainweb.com/mpg/year1999/07/1999g30r/mvc-690v.mpg
Firelock76 The old Lehigh and New England had a pretty good looking basic black with white striping scheme, set off by the "fried egg" herald on the nose.
As with the 'dark' lightning-stripe NYC variant, 'basic black with white striping' doesn't really give the scheme justice:
They were only 12 years old when the railroad closed!
L&NE was notable for a particular reason: they were owned by a coal company, and when that company saw revenues fall below critical, the board of directors made the strategic decision to shut down the railroad as a capital asset, and leave the 'common carrier' aspects to CNJ. There was no long-pathetic slide -- they went out with class.
I was aware of the FAs just about the time they were gone, like so much else I 'just missed' by being a tad too young.
The old Lehigh and New England had a pretty good looking basic black with white striping scheme, set off by the "fried egg" herald on the nose.
The colors reflected what the 'road hauled, coal and cement, mostly.
Best merger: N&W + Virginian, a parallel merger that made sense and really worked.
Worst merger: Penn Central
Best paint job: KCS Southern Belle or IHB lightning stripe.
Worst paint job: Penn Central black. N&W and original IC were also basic black but N&W used yellow lettering and IC had white trim striping.
Firelock 76- likely you are right about Conrail vs Penn Central "look". My opinion is based on a number of brass model GE locos along with a number of plastic and then substituting Conrail locos in the same scene...a diesel servicing facility, all in N Scale. The Penn Central looks "tougher", the Conrail blue looks like it needs help. In the real world it probably didn't look that way. Black anything, autos, suits, locomotives need to be real clean to look good. The mating worms don't help either.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway. That KCS bicentennial could not even be photoshopped to look that bad. No one would believe you.
Best merger - 1960's Soo Line Railroad from MStP&SSM (Old Soo), WC and DSS&A. Whatever happened there was very impressive.
I have to second Semper Vaporo's choice of the Santa Fe "Warbonnet," truly a classic diesel paint scheme.
I got me to thinking about it's contemporary cab unit, the New York Central's grey with lightning stripes. It strikes me both paint schemes mirrored their parts of the country perfectly.
The New York Central's: Grey flannel, very serious, very businesslike, very Wall Street and New York City.
The Santa Fe's "Warbonnet": Pure Hollywood!
Hate to disagree with you Miningman, but even though Conrails basic blue was pretty plain and uninspired it was a lot better than PC's funereal black.
Oh, and that KCS monstrosity looks like a popcorn stand mated with a cotton-candy kiosk!
Dragoman- Yah, the big sky blue was nice but blink and you missed it. Looked grest on the passenger equipment. Never really had A chance.
Firelock76- ...on the other hand the Conrail blue...fuggetaboutit..a herd of PC black looked better than that.
KBCpresident For worst merger, it seems that people so far have interpretted this in two different ways (and my nominations for both): Worst planned merger: Penn Central Merger with the greatest negative impact on railfanning: Conrail. I know this was before my day, but it seems like a lot of fascinating companies vanished when CR came into being.
For worst merger, it seems that people so far have interpretted this in two different ways (and my nominations for both):
Worst planned merger: Penn Central
Merger with the greatest negative impact on railfanning: Conrail. I know this was before my day, but it seems like a lot of fascinating companies vanished when CR came into being.
I don't know, now it seems Conrail has it's own fans nostalgic for "Big Blue." You just never know, do you?
And all those other companies that vanished into Conrail? Well, it was either that or total oblivion. Just the way it was.
For my taste --
Best Paint Scheme: Tie between SP's Daylight and GN's Big Sky Blue.
For best pain scheme:
I agree, that the warbonnet looks pretty sharp, but I honestly think that Cascade Green is one of my favoirtes. BN operated along river banks, in deserts, forests, and snowy passes and it looked good in all of those. Good fit for the railroad and its terrain. I guess it did havea habit of blending into said scenery though [:-/]
The Beaverton, Fanno Creek & Bull Mountain Railroad
"Ruby Line Service"
Best Paint Scheme: ATSF red and silver "War Bonnet" F3 and F7 Diesels... the only thing that ever made a Diesel worth looking at or giving a 2nd thought (or at least a non-disparaging thought!).
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Never seen this before...are you kidding me!? How?..... Speechless
Speaking of bicens, I realize that I never nominated a worst paint scheme myself for the awards:
The Kansas City Southern Bicen. I understand that it had some good intentions but this thing is ugly...
(http://www.railpictures.net/photo/520324/)
Got to luv Felix...so surreal. 7:30 am until 8 every Saturday morning back home when I was 7 or something. Followed by Rough and Ready.
Course' it would be different wherever the reader is from but yah ...I still use the expression righty-o all the time.
Many of the bicentennial paint schemes were terrible really but Government entities could not run a hot dog stand. Thank God real railroaders were involved.
K4sPRRIt was the only GG1 to wear Conrail blue paint.
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Get the Classic Trains twice-monthly newsletter