erie lackawanna yellow & maroon variation

[SpringStreet]

I've seen photos (and, for that matter, models) of Erie Lackawanna hood units with varying shades of yellow, from fairly bright yellow to a more muted, vaguely orange-ish yellow. I've noted similar, perhaps smaller, variation with regard to EL maroon. Is that just a difference due to weathering, lighting, or camera variation, or did EL actually change its shades of paint one or more times? Thanks for any insight into this.

[mbinsewi]

I'm not an Erie aficionado, but I would think that weathering has made the difference in the full size version, and as far as models, it's whatever the manufacturer or modeler thought was a proper color, or a close match.

Mike.

[NHTX]

      The colors seen on protoype equipment may vary from piece to piece for a variety of reasons.  Batches of a color from the same manufacturer could be made from different ingredients, of differing age, and applied to differently prepared surfaces.  An item that is used system-wide will exhibit different fading and weathering effects vs. that which spends most or all of its service life in the same general vicinity.  If the equipment is fortunate enough to get washed once in awhile, the chemicals in the wash solution can and do cause changes in color.  Boston and Maine was notorious for their first generation power that was supposed to be in maroon and "gold" showing more primer yellow than anything else as aging took place.  Southern Pacific power that spent most of its time east of L.A. did not weather like the stuff on the Donner Pass or Oregon Routes--even if it was painted with the same batch of paint, in the same shop at the same time--which it most likely was not.  So, even looking at a freshly painted item still on the paint shop floor, how can we say that it is truly the "right" or "wrong" color?  Paint your model so it looks right under our artificial lighting then take it out into natural daylight and note the difference, especially if you can compare it to the prototype. Since EL  vanished over 40 years ago, proving your colors wrong is not going to be easy, so do what LOOKS right to you and have fun.

[SpringStreet]

Thanks for the insights!

[Omaha53]

Another consideration is that the color shade of the photo can be affected by the camera, the film, the processing and lighting at the time of the picture.