I saw in a book (Diesel Demonstrators) a reference to 'dip' paint. I tried looking earlier in the book for some hint, but no luck.
What the heck is 'dip' paint?
Hi - In the case of some of the Penn Central quick and dirty repaints (bottom half of an ex-NYC E-unit carbody in fresh black, the rest in faded NYC gray) it looked the engine had been "dipped in" up to the belt rail or so. I think that's how a "dip job" became the euphemism for any repaint done on the cheap, to get rid of the former owner's name or stripes, etc. Hope that helps! Art
I think a dip job usually means the engine is painted all one color with no striping or contrasting / complimentary colors...as if they took the engine and just "dipped" it in a huge can of paint. Many railroads used complicated diesel paint schemes in the thirties-fifties, but in the sixties often simplified them to just one color, making it easier to paint and to maintain the paint than the more complicated ones.
For example, New York Central passenger diesels in the fifties were a two-tone gray with white "lightning stripes" but by the sixties were just all black with the railroad name and no. on the side and a herald with very minimal striping on the nose.
Well, that is logical. Thank you!