Worst paint schemes

[mustanggt]

The ugliest scheme ever has to be the MBTA's commuter rail silver, magenta, and yellow pinstripes of 20 years ago. The F units looked the worst

[Anonymous]

My vote is for the Seattle SOUNDER. Looks like a water-park inspired scheme.

[Anonymous]

Any paint dip job is awful (CSX gray!)

[Anonymous]

Let's see...Metra's Orange and Blue F40's...Amtrak's P40's (Sorry Mr. Vergara, but ugly colors do not help an ugly locomotive!)...CSX "stealth" and "dark future"...also, any locomotive that has white as a primary color (RI Blue/White & IC(G) orange and white) - dirty as soon as it leaves the paint booth!

[Anonymous]

Ever see KCS ghost scheme? Those things needed a good bleaching!

[wallywalkabout]

This is like asking parents at a PTA meeting "which one of your children are the uglyist". The answer is subjective!!

[Anonymous]

Ditto - this has got to be one of the silliest transportation paint scheme in recent years. I was deeply involved in a design project for Sound Transit over the past 3 years. My team tried to convince ST to revise the design w months prior to delivery of the equipment. We even had an approved scheme for all three lines of business. This was nixed by the ST Board because it would have cost and additional 10K to revise engineering drawings. A drop in the bucket compaired to the millions down the drain on this project so far.

[Anonymous]

Well, to say that this is a subjective topic is an understatement. One thing is clear though - most contemporary schemes are not concieved by designers with an understanding of the rail industry. There are exceptions but in the US most paint schemes are either way overdone (BNSF) or way underdone (NS) or just plain awful (Sounder). Worst of all is the typography (lettering to the uninitiated). Some of the best in railway graphic design is in Europe - some very stunning trains indeed. Canadian RR's feature some good work too - the new Cartier Dash 9 and Ontarior Northland schemes are very simple and handsome.

[Anonymous]

What Europe trains look stunning? Most late European deasigns are worse then ever, the use of whites and pinks and stipes and blotches. Yuk! Danish, Swedish, Dutch, German, etc and especialy Briti***rain colours and designs are awfull. Many colours of the past were very nice in Europe. But like you say, it is subjective.

[Anonymous]

Anything with Santa Fe on the side. Long Live Yellow and Gray:)

[Anonymous]

No no Michael, anything with Santa Fe on the sides is pure CLASS.....FIRST CLASS!!!!!!!

[jamesedwbradley]

1. Color schemes are one of my favorite parts of the hobby; I've duplicated a few on model units. At risk of getting drummed out of the railfan fraternity, I never cared for the "Raymond Loewy" two-tone green Northern Pacific scheme; I much preferred the old NP colors which DREAMTRAINS calls 'dreary'; they're close to the all-time best (ERIE green and grey) which another poster said was light green; the grey did have a tendency to fade to light green). And they took away the NP car names in the bargain !
2. I'd like to have collected the money for 'designing' the "block NW" scheme, if you can call it that. I'll bet someone collected fancy fee for doing nothing ! Blue'half moon' was much better.
3. I liked PC green, few others used green as a base scheme.
4. CSX stealth grey is OK with me, but NOT the CSX name itself which is meaningless to 'the man in the street;. Better call it the Dixie Line (they even own the logo for that one!).
5. Same with BNSF; logo and colors are ok., but why not "RAILSWEST" ? Says it all.

I must say the railroads (and EMD) came up with more good schemes than bad ones. Enjoy !

James E. Bradley Hawk Mountain Chapter N.R.H.S.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why people knock the NS look, but then they say they love steam engines. Aren't they black with a few exceptions. What about the experimental Daylight on the SP for the diesel. Now that was UGLY!!!!!

[louisnash]

This isn't a reply but my thoughts on the ugliest paint schemes. I think that Seaboard Coast Line had the ugliest. All black with just the name was not a good sight for rolling advertisement. When they were dirty you didn't know at times what they were. Now on the other hand, even though I am a big L&N fan, I think the best looking scheme was Chessie System. The kitty was something great to advertise a railroad with.

[louisnash]

Maybe the Baldwin that you talk about was nasty but I think that TTI has a good looking scheme and every time I see their locos they always look like they have been washed and that's nice for the picture taker. Its a good scheme because where would you put that long name at.

Brian

[Anonymous]

SP's gray and red is my least favorite, if only because it replaced that fantastic Daylight red, orange,and black.

IC's 1950's black and white on its freight diesels also ranks near the bottom, because of the stark contrast with IC's chocolate and orange passenger colors.

Under current circumstances, I find NS's black and white uninspiring.

[friscobob56]

Lessee.........Frisco vs. CSX stealth gray or dip blue.....no contest- Frisco definitely looks better, and you can see it!
The O/W paintjob bites on F-units and the few E-units that got it, but fits well on hood units.

Or are you referring to one of the varieties of black & yellow?

[friscobob56]

Ditto on the SPSF paint- I called it the "Tyco" paint scheme, since it looked like the Gawdawful paint jobs Tyco would put on their toylike diesel models.
As for CSX's stealth scheme, if you looked closely, you;d see splotches of red on some of those diesels (don't ask how they got there- too gruesome, LOL)

To me, the term "ugly" goes to ICG's orange & white scheme after it's weathered up a bit. And for the ex-ICG diesels that went to Katy, add rust & primer- looks like Bubba Ray's pick-up truck (and runs like it, too, LOL)

[friscobob56]

No- sadly, they're being retired, and cut up.

As for Beansniff paint, I like the so-called Heritage 1 job- reminds me of Great Northern, and looks less gaudy than the Heritage II (who designed that one- Tyco?!?!?)

If we gotta have Beansniff colors, I vote for H1!

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen Metra's new F59PH's? BLECH!!!

[edblysard]

I have seen one of your vomit bonnet schemes, and thats just too nice a name for it. Hope the guy who thought it up was fired, or at least made to paint his auto in the same scheme[xx(].

QUOTE: Originally posted by ironken

James, you didn't read closely. I too like the "executive," scheme. What I'm talkin' about is a "vomit bonnet." I was on one awhile back. I think that only one or two were painted like this. It was a war bonnet type scheme in the green and cream colors. You have to see it to appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

B(arf)NSF Orange with the yellow... guh ugly.. orange only goes well with BLue or on BNs Green not yellow like BNSF

Like the Blue and yellow SAnta Fes though.

[eolafan]

Folks, while I agree that some paint schemes are nicer to look at than others, I really think that as long as the paint is on a train and not a truck or an airplane, it can't be all that bad, now can it?

[Anonymous]

Black is an FRA friendly color. You may not like it, but it keeps those oil leaks and dirt from turning into negative cash flow. It also covers nearly any color without a second coat. Beancounters dream. Sort of explains both use by PC and NS...

LC

[vsmith]

Ugliest:
Southern Pacific grey/red but you cant see it for all the grime covering everything.
Bring back the Daylight colors or at least the Black Widow scheme.

BNSF pumpkin stripes are pretty bad.

Conrail looks like it locos come from IKEA.

Thank God Union Pacific hasn't changed their colors.

[Anonymous]

The Pacman of the CP Rail, and the dual flags too.

Sometimes the red on them would go pink.

[Wdlgln005]

some quick repaint jobs just don't work

Let's start with those soo/milw black bandits. Or boxcars with big patches of paint where the old herald was. Look at all the railboz type boxcars with patch jobs. At least the GTW used red paint for their former UP units. I liked the New IC'c black painted units. They had an open house tour of the Markham shops. Seems they used a similar water based paint that we use on our models, plus a white stencil for the new herald. But on the handrails & other areas, the paint would wash or rub off & the white/orange paint underneath wotld reappear! Makes a prototype for almost anything on the model! Keep cool & safe this summer.

[Anonymous]

No doubt about it, the grimy, dirty, paint peeling Southern Pacific gray diesels were the worst. They were in a class all by themselves....

[Saxman]

Although it probably isn't really a paint scheme, the Primer Gray that NS chooses to recieve their new locomotives in. It was explained to me that NS saves about $10,000/locomotive not have it painted by the factory including having to clean the locomotive up and labor when it does get painted at a NS shop. Bean counter at work: Let's see 100 locomotives ordred x $10,000/locomotive saved by not painting at factory = $1,000,000. Viola I saved 1/2 the cost of one locomotive.

Real live scheme: CSX Stealth Gray. A real statement from a railroad concerned about safety.

[Chazmort]

(1) PC black
(2) all the orange and brown candy bar schemes. Sorry, but IC's and GN's passenger trains looked awful.

Most disappointing scheme was the Vomit Bonnet or Warpumpkin.