Hi, did ALCo have a standard colour for its diesel cab interiors, or will any light blue / light green / cream do? The particular context is I am fitting the bodies to some Life-Like PAs and FAs for the Lehigh Valley RR, if that makes a difference, but a more general answer would also be of interest.
Also, did LV diesel cab crews wear standard colour clothes, or whatever they wanted to?
Thanks,
Bill.
Portland BillThe particular context is I am fitting the bodies to some Life-Like PAs and FAs for the Lehigh Valley RR, if that makes a difference, but a more general answer would also be of interest.
Generally in the steam era or transition era, the insides of most anything 'industrial' would be painted a pale gray-green, similar say to Tamiya's 'cockpit green'. Cabooses, roundhouses, engine cabs, signal towers, pretty much anything could and often did have light green interiors.
Portland BillAlso, did LV diesel cab crews wear standard colour clothes, or whatever they wanted to?
If what you're asking is if the Lehigh Valley had like a 'uniform' employees wore, the answer would be no. That was common in the UK, continental Europe, and Japan, but pretty much unheard of in the US. Even though the railroad that ran across the street from the home I grew up in dieselized in 1950, in the early sixties the crews tended to still ware steam-era / traditional clothing - blue or hickory strip bib overalls and jacket, gloves, heavy shoes or boots, and an engineer's cap like a Cromer cap. Shirts under the overalls might be a white T-shirt, but a few old-time engineers might still wear a regular shirt and tie (sometimes a bow-tie).
As the sixties progressed, younger employees didn't want to wear the traditional clothing, so you'd see them just wearing t-shirts or sweatshirts and jeans, perhaps a jean jacket (or long sleeve shirt with fluffy winter vest-coat) in colder weather. By the seventies, you might even see a guy in bell-bottom jeans.
Portland BillHi, did ALCo have a standard colour for its diesel cab interiors, or will any light blue / light green / cream do?
I don't know how accurate this would be.
Every interior of a diesel locomotive cab I have seen in a museum has been basically light gray.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
This is the inside of the cab of a Reading GE locomotive.
I have seen pictures of Lehigh Valley ALcos with what looks like a shade darker.
With pictures, color can change with age and the lighting.
Paint chips would be the best to view.
I believe some railroads used a specific color. The PRR used apple green. As a fueler for the PC I saw green, white, and grey interiors. The seats were either duck tape or stacked up rags. Cabins always seem to have been apple green or pealed off rusty metal.
We wore anything that kept us warm and dry. The rain gear was fantastic at keeping the rain from going out. I never made it to the winter before my position was eliminated.
Pete.
Most of my interest was in EMD products and I don't have any reference material on Lehigh Valley standards. In ordering locomotives very little was left to chance and the railroads had large numbers of personnel in the engineering and master mechanic's and superintendant of motive power departments and the purchasing department. Drawings would have been drawn up and sent to the builder with exact specifications of the paint process as laid out in the purchase orders.
This scan is a little fuzzy and I need to redo it.
NYCS_Lettering_DPA-1a by Edmund, on Flickr
Here's a crop of the 'deleted' specs when the print was modified. NYC made several orders to EMD for passenger locomotives and made revisions along the way. Notably going from deep green to 'suede gray' cab and engine room interior colors.
NYC EMD Paint by Edmund, on Flickr
Here is a PRR lettering diagram for an E7 showing suede gray 'PRR shade" for interior surfaces.
PRR EP20-A paint by Edmund, on Flickr
And a note that the color had been changed from 'brown' to 'suede gray':
PRR_paint_A_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
See the striping detail at the upper left here. That is some specific detail:
PRR_paint_stripe by Edmund, on Flickr
A record of 'official' paint drift cards were kept on hand to be sure colors didn't 'drift' from the standard:
PRR_color-drift by Edmund, on Flickr
PRR_color-drift_0002 by Edmund, on Flickr
PRR_color-drift_0001 by Edmund, on Flickr
Lost of good L-V scenes here with PAs but none illuminate the cab enough to get a good look:
Good Luck, Ed
As the PRR owned a majority of stock (but was prevented from exercising control by the ICC) of the LV, it would be a good bet to choose the PRR standard Suede Gray for a model.
I recall reading a transition era engineer saying that the paint used in the early diesel's cabs often flaked off pretty quickly (he blamed diesel exhaust making it's way into the cab), so regardless of what color the interior was when it was delivered, it's likely it was repainted by the railroad within a few years, possibly into a different color.
Thanks to all for your replies. Sorry for my slow response, but tho I ticked the box to be notified of replies I got no notifications, so I assumed no one had replied. I like the idea of a bow tie for my driver, though the Life-Like cab crew are not very life-like!! I might seek some better crew figures. My era for these is early 1950s when the units were new. I believe my FA1s arrived on the LV between 1946-8, and RR picture archive dates one of my PA1s, #609, as delivered 4/48, so I assume the other, #611, was also thereabouts. RR picture archive has a B&W photo of LV FA2 #583 with the cab door open, but all that can be said of the interior is that it looks a lightish shade. Special thanks for the links to the videos!!!!!
Best Regards,