Wheeling around in Rio colors

[traingang]

Observation:
While making the regular rounds about town last week, an engine in Rio Grande livery was idled at IORY's Ford Park yard in Lima. I have noticed on the railfan photo site that there are several W&LE units with Rio Grande paint. I also notice that fresh paint jobs on W&LE units are reminiscent of Rio Grande.

[?]Question[?]:
Is there a common ownership/connection between these two distant properties that I have missed thru the years? What is the common denominator that led W&LE to recreate the Rio Grande colors so faithfully?

[TheS.P.caboose]

I don't think they were connected in any way. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the last 20 years that I've been railfanning I haven't heard any connection.

I got to admit, I do enjoy the DRGW colors/paint scheme. I also enjoy they and SP were the only two roads that I knew had tunnel motors.

[Anonymous]

Ther is a connection between the two roads. One of the pricipals in the Wheeling was a senior eexecutive at the Rio Grande before the buyout by Phillip Aunshutz(I know I spelled the last name wrong, but you know to whom I am refering). I believe the last name of this principal is Parsons, but you could refer to a back issue of Trains (sorry, mine are packed away and not readily available). The story is the one about the history of Tennesse pass.

[traingang]

Thank you for the tip, jwal. The colors and lettering style were just too similar to not have a connection of some sort.

I did a search on the TRAINS.com site, and found articles about Tennessee Pass in two issues: March 1997 and June 2003

Philip Anschutz was mentioned in the March 1997 article, which appears in its entirety. I haven't found the Parsons fellow yet.