Need some clarification on some differences on CR paint schemes. When was the white sill stripe removed? Some engines have the top of the short hood painted black. When did this occur? It also appears the cab roof may have been painted black also. any date available on that? thank you
I think (but am not sure) the white sill stripes came with the Conrail Quality paint scheme. That may have also included a black nose but I'm not sure -- when I model CR it's in the pre-Quality days. :)
As for black noses... I don't recall CR painting noses black on the earlier scheme. I do know that the nose tops frquently went dark -- they were oftened covered with surface rust (I presume from snow piling up) and lots of grime, so they certainly looked black. I don't think washing locos was big on Conrail's to-do list.
I do know that CR locos can have either blue or black walkways. I recall reading somewhere that a blue walkway denotes factory paint (i.e. GP15-1 new from EMD, or at least as new as a GP15 got) while a black walkway was a Conrail repaint. Not sure if that's accurate, but Athearn does seem to get it right!
Aaron
The white stripe is the mandatory reflective stripe dictated by the fra. The black nose hood is an antiglare. not on many but for some reson dos appear on both original and repaints. not on many units. and seams rather random. just like alot of other units. it did become common on wide cabs with the c40-8's. the black cab roof is an illusion. that is reffered to as conrust. mostly from the effects of working in the steel reagon. even though it is rust, it appears black in al lot of pics because of the diesel exhaust sut not wasing off in the rain but gets caught on the rust . From what i have seen , the walkway color does denote paint location.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space