D&RGW question

[jguess733]

when did the d&rgw introduce their yellow and silver w/black stripes paint scheme's on their passenger equipment? I've got a few d&rgw heavyweights painted up like that, and was wondering if their appropriate for the mid 1940's. thanks for the help.

[jimrice4449]

I"m sure DRGW fans will be around to give you a definitive answer, but for now I believe mid-40s would be a bit early. I remember seing pix of the Calif Zephyr w/ Alco P ABA sets in 2 or 3 different pre 5 stripe Grande Gold schemes and the CZ wasn't inaugurated until 1949

[twhite]

Though both Walthers and Athearn stock Pullman-Standard cars in the yellow/silver scheme of the Rio Grande, the colors are not prototypically correct for the 1940's. The Gold and Silver colors didn't appear until after 1952, and then only on a few standard Rio Grande cars (mainly head end cars) mixed into the streamlined consists of either the "Royal Gorge" or the overnight Salt Lake-Denver "Prospector."
That's my biggest gripe about the Walther's Pullman Standard cars--especially if you want to model a Rio Grande passenger train of the 1940's. My solution has been to just buy the PULLMAN cars, and decal the diner and the observation. As to the Athearn cars, they are advertised as the Rio Grande "Ski Train" and are correct for that very popular winter train between Denver and Winter Park--the Rio Grande purchased some older Northern Pacific standard coaches and repainted them.
Hope this helps, somewhat.
Tom