What is your favorite paint scheme from the 50's.

[trainboyH16-44]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hugh Jampton

Can't beat grey & maroon in my books. Looks good on both steamers and diesels.

Like on CP? 'Cause that has my vote.
Second is Warbonnet.
Trainboy

[cnw4001]

CNW Yellow/Green passenger cars and engines.
C&O Blue/Yellow

[Anonymous]

Gotta agree with a lot of folks...the ATSF Warbonnet was Super Chief special!

I am stuck on the Southern's green, white, and gold.

Erik

[PBenham]

10: Rutland Green w/ delux stripes, lettering,and numbers 9: DL&W Freight, Maroon,grey and yellow, nice but..8: NYC lightning stripes* 7: Nickel Plate Bluebird 6: DL&W Passenger same colors as the freight, but wider single maroon mid section. William White upgraded EL's look with a variation of this scheme. 5: Boston & Maine Maroon, with GM styling cream(?) striping. 4: PRR 5 stripe Tuscan,# made ordinary E8s special. 3. New Haven's last green scheme (late PAs,FA/B) 2. NYO&W grey with white stripe, maroon herald and orange nose bib.(reused by QNS&L,by the way) 1. Lehigh Valley Cornell Red with the black GM styling group three stripes. Note *The freight Black which weathered better than the Pacemaker Grey, which is OK. Not in the same class with the black,though.that's no.12. note# PRR Brunswick Green? no.11,with 5 stripes

[Anonymous]

Since you didn't specify motive power or cars, here goes

Motive Power: ATSF Warbonnet and the 1936 City of Denver ... I love the grill front and the elevated (microdome) cab.

Cars: Straight stainless steel (Santa Fe, Southern, Seaboard, Burlington) is great. For painted surfaces, I'd go with the SP daylight scheme, the NYC two-tone gray, and the UP Armour yellow, gray, and red. I've never understood IC's decision to go with the chocolate and orange combination rather than using the original red, orange, and green color scheme of the City of Miami.

Interiors: The twin-unit diners for the Century and the Commodore with the serpentine seating and Atlantic Shore and Lake Shore, the club lounge cars for the 1948 century (although I've never seen color photos of either of them). I've never seen good enough photos or floorplans for the Pleasure Dome Turquoise Room lounge cars for the Super Chief to be able to judge them.

Going back a bit, I would also recommend the streamlined Hudson's for the Century (Henry Dreyfuss 1938), my favorite streamlined steam by far. And for paint schemes, the Century of 1938 (the very first version with the thicker aluminum stripes in the window band; also Henry Dreyfuss) and the Pennsylvania fleet of modernism designed by Raymond Loewy in 1938 with the "racetrack oval" window bands and lots of gold finelining against two shades of Tuscan red. One of my regrets is that I've never seen a really good color photo of that design.

I also regret never seeing color photos of the lounges and dining car of the 1938 Broadway or even a floorplan of the dining car. From the descriptions I've read they appear to have been quite colorful and far more sophisticated than what Loewy designed for the 1949 Broadway.

[artpeterson]

I'll cast another vote for ACL purple and silver.

[Anonymous]

Baltimore & Ohio (early Capitol Limited)

Rock Island (early Rocket)

Santa Fe (War Bonnet)

[jlampke]

SP Daylight painted GS locomotive and all matching heavy passenger train. The sight of a gleaming Daylight train passing through the evergreen covered mountains of Northern CA and Oregon just can't be beat.

[Anonymous]

Santa Fe Warbonnet

[Anonymous]

The Frisco E-units. Especially in the earlier days when they were red with gold, and white pinstrips around the gold.

ATSF Warbonnet

CRIP Passenger

MV, KO&G, OCAA, black and orange (nearly red).

Too many others to name.

[Anonymous]

SP Daylight Orange! Also the Santa Fe War Bonnet!

[Anonymous]

I stand corrected. Still, I kinda like the "garish" old New Haven paint scheme...[8D]

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

New Haven's N-over-H was definitely not a Raymond Loewy design, it was much too gari***o have come from him.

The black-orange-white with N-over-H of New Haven and the blue-black-white with intertwined BM of Boston and Maine were the product of Patrick McGinniss's presidency on each of those roads. Reportedly, each of those designs were concocted by his wife.

[Anonymous]

AT&SF classic Warbonnet;

Pennsy's "Tuscan Red," especially with the delicate pinstriping on that line's GG-1 electric locos; and on Nofolk & Western's (New York) Washington-Birmingham line in conjunction with their built-in-Roanoke Class J steamers; and

New York, New Haven and Harford's vertical "N/H." Was this another Loewy design?

[alstom]

Northern Pacific
Chesapeake & Ohio
Erie Railroad
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie
Bessemer & Lake Erie

[Anonymous]

Many were good, even great but for simple elegance UPs Yellow Grey and red gets my vote.

[agentatascadero]

I must be the only one who thought of the train, not the locomotive. For locos, there is simply none better than the classic Warbonnet. As an SP guy, I'm partial to the Daylight and Black Widow, and Honorable mention to the elegant PRR Cat Whiskers, and NYC Lightening Stripes. All stainless trains cannot make the list...no paint. My painted favorites are SP Daylight, GN green/orange, IC chocolate/orange, and CN two-tone green.

[Gunns]

AT&SF big, huge and All Black, at least on the front end.......
Gunns

[Torpedo]

Warbonnet! Santa Fe Superchief all the way!

[slotracer]

1.....DL&W Passenger Scheme
2.....DL&W Gray and Maroon freight scheme
3.....NYC Black and Gray Lightning Stripes

[METRO]

NYC Lightning Stripe
CP Maroon and Grey
CN Maple leaf

[route_rock]

Well everyone has some great ones in here I will add a few. Rock Island Pass and Steam scheme ( red, black and white wings) Wabash for sure, SP Black Widow, But my all time favorite Locomotive color.... basic grimy sooty black [:D]

[Anonymous]

I'm sort of partial to the WM's black with yellow speed lettering since I worked there in the 50's. Sort of blah but it was home to me. [C):-)]

[nickinwestwales]

Ontario Northland original diesel scheme-yellow and green body separated by red pinstripes,yellow banding around lower nose,silver grilles....distinct improvement over the chevron and O.N.Rail schemes!!!

[upchuck]

ERIE

[Anonymous]

Black. Also for the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's...

[ragnar]

Great Northen
Burlington

[lonewoof]

1: Southern green & imitation aluminum;
2: ACL purple & silver;
3: Seaboard black & yellow

[Anonymous]

Wow, there were so many great paint scheme's in the 1950's. I'll have to name the railroad whose track I had to cross to go to school. The B&O. I loved the Blue and Gray! The other paint scheme I took a strong liking to, thanks to American Flyer, was the "North Coast Limited." ( I'd like to give honorable mention to the other Railroads that effected my interest in railroading as a youngster the N&W, PRR, and C&O!) [:)]