Nostalgia & History > GN big sky blue at Vancouver

Renumbered SDP40 #9854 back in 1969.

Adam

---

Can't be 1969. BN hadn't happened yet. (March 2, 1970). So might this be the following summer?

I believe the pair of SDP40s were taken off of the Western Star in Seattle, one sent south to Portland on the morning pool train and the other north to Vancouver BC on the International. After returning to Seattle, they went east on that night's Western Star. That's equipment utilization!

Lee Hower - Sacramento

One of the straight-up smoothest paint schemes of all the ages. Wish someone would bring it back... livening either a heritage unit or fleet, or even on revenue equipment...

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

OmahaTom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the straight-up smoothest paint schemes of
> all the ages. Wish someone would bring it back...
> livening either a heritage unit or fleet, or even
> on revenue equipment...
>
> Tom Loftus
> Omaha, NE


I have to disagree.Coming down on the nose the stripe
is unequal.


Uncle Joe,Sefner,Fl.

retcsxcfm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OmahaTom Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > One of the straight-up smoothest paint schemes
> of
> > all the ages. Wish someone would bring it
> back...
> > livening either a heritage unit or fleet, or
> even
> > on revenue equipment...
> >
> > Tom Loftus
> > Omaha, NE
>
>
> I have to disagree.Coming down on the nose the
> stripe
> is unequal.
>
>
> Uncle Joe,Sefner,Fl.


And that flat panel thingie attached to the stanchions is kinda weird looking. It would have looked better on the carbody in my opinion.

Not a fan of BSB either, it has many followers though. Just didn't look right coming around the curves at Carkeek Park.

Either way it's a cool photo. Liked those SDP40 from the first day I figured out what they were.
t4p.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/14 14:33 by TCnR.

Well, I was a fan. If anything, in 1967, when BSB was introduced, there was little "bright" on the railroading world. Pretty bleak time, and getting bleaker. But here was a color so different, so new, that it did have something going for it. Then again, those were my thoughts when I was 15 (in 1967). Today, I much preferred the original GN Empire Builder orange and green . . . but the very idea that someone would paint something so bright and colorful in such a drab railroad world was rather refreshing - and different!

Lee Hower

mcfflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can't be 1969. BN hadn't happened yet. (March 2,
> 1970). So might this be the following summer?
>
> I believe the pair of SDP40s were taken off of the
> Western Star in Seattle, one sent south to
> Portland on the morning pool train and the other
> north to Vancouver BC on the International. After
> returning to Seattle, they went east on that
> night's Western Star. That's equipment
> utilization!
>
> Lee Hower - Sacramento

Right about it being sometime in '70. Its not my slide but I should have realized the BN on the cab would have put it post '69.
I however like the BSB scheme.

Adam

Adam, thanks for sharing the slide. I never saw the GN pool train in Vancouver, as when I was up there, I'd be on my way up to Portland on the SP Cascade. Saw it leave Portland going back north many times.

Lee

OmahaTom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the straight-up smoothest paint schemes of
> all the ages. Wish someone would bring it back...
> livening either a heritage unit or fleet, or even
> on revenue equipment...
>
> Tom Loftus
> Omaha, NE

I agree. what a great paint scheme........

66

Lee wrote: "Today, I much preferred the original GN Empire Builder orange and green". Me too, Lee. To me the color of the coach behind the baggage car says it all. I much preferred that color scheme over the BSB.

Check out some of the GN SDP-40s on the thread from over six years ago at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1556849,1556982#msg-1556982. As I noted there, the digital speedometers had a mind of their own. On a cold-weather note, I remember watching on some winter nights as the depot car toads chipped the ice off of the front and rear cab doors of the arriving SDP-40 so that the engine crew returning home from Whitefish could exit the cab and go home. When the cab doors iced up it was impossible for the fireman to attend to a malfunctioning steam generator en route unless the train stopped so that a trainman could chip the ice away from the cab door. If the rear door wasn't ice-blocked, it was a dangerous trip for the fireman walking along the ice and/or snow-covered walkway at speed to get the steam generator running again. I had to do it on the shorter GP-9s which were mixed in with the SP&S's E and F cab units and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Jim, the thing is that GN had simplified their Omaha orange paint schemes on the passenger Fs, as well as everything else, and now the paint pattern on the locomotives no longer matched the passenger cars. Now go back before GN simplified the orange paint, now that was a paint scheme!

We went through this several years ago:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2063838,2064242#2064242
Aways down the post, I posted my own photos.


Lee

Jim700 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lee wrote: "Today, I much preferred the original
> GN Empire Builder orange and green". Me too, Lee.
> To me the color of the coach behind the baggage
> car says it all. I much preferred that color
> scheme over the BSB.
>
> Check out some of the GN SDP-40s on the thread
> from over six years ago at
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1
> 556849,1556982#msg-1556982. As I noted there, the
> digital speedometers had a mind of their own. On
> a cold-weather note, I remember watching on some
> winter nights as the depot car toads chipped the
> ice off of the front and rear cab doors of the
> arriving SDP-40 so that the engine crew returning
> home from Whitefish could exit the cab and go
> home. When the cab doors iced up it was
> impossible for the fireman to attend to a
> malfunctioning steam generator en route unless the
> train stopped so that a trainman could chip the
> ice away from the cab door. If the rear door
> wasn't ice-blocked, it was a dangerous trip for
> the fireman walking along the ice and/or
> snow-covered walkway at speed to get the steam
> generator running again. I had to do it on the
> shorter GP-9s which were mixed in with the SP&S's
> E and F cab units and it wasn't a pleasant
> experience.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/14 16:03 by mcfflyer.

I suppose my preference for "original" paint schemes is related to my old age....I do not believe there is one example of a simplified paint scheme I ever preferred to the original. To me, the BSB was faded and drab from the get-go, and a huge come down from the elegant Omaha orange and green. BSB probably happened about the time Camel cigarettes attempted a simplification of the cigarette pack, and public pressure killed THAT stupid idea right away. Yes, I am saying that if the railroads were a bit more in the public consciousness and more popular, the public would have chimed in on those uniformly inferior schemes too....but, by the late '60s, the railroads were rapidly fading from public awareness. Look what happened after BSB...the BN pogo stick, even more drab and unappealing. But that high paid graphic designer said this is a more modern look and everybody will just love it. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

But Stanford - the original Omaha orange scheme had already been simplified, removing separation stripes and even an orange panel. It no longer matched the passenger cars.

agentatascadero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I suppose my preference for "original" paint
> schemes is related to my old age....I do not
> believe there is one example of a simplified paint
> scheme I ever preferred to the original. To me,
> the BSB was faded and drab from the get-go, and a
> huge come down from the elegant Omaha orange and
> green. BSB probably happened about the time Camel
> cigarettes attempted a simplification of the
> cigarette pack, and public pressure killed THAT
> stupid idea right away. Yes, I am saying that if
> the railroads were a bit more in the public
> consciousness and more popular, the public would
> have chimed in on those uniformly inferior schemes
> too....but, by the late '60s, the railroads were
> rapidly fading from public awareness. Look what
> happened after BSB...the BN pogo stick, even more
> drab and unappealing. But that high paid graphic
> designer said this is a more modern look and
> everybody will just love it. AA

mcfflyer, I think you're referencing the GN locomotive simplified green/orange scheme, as I am not aware of any such downgrading of the passenger equipment. Silly me, when I refer to a "paint scheme" I am not referring to the locomotive, with a few exceptions, like the Warbonnet, but the passengers cars themselves. I would guess that most, when referring to a scheme, are considering the locomotive only....Warbonnet and Bloody Nose come quickly to mind. In my life, there were few, if any, color schemes prior to the era of the diesel, and streamlined trains, unless one considers boxcar red, Pullman green, and basic locomotive black "color schemes". AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

At the risk of sounding indecisive, I like both the Big Sky Blue AND the Empire Builder scheme. The Empire Builder was a classic scheme which looked great on Great Northern's 1950s-era passenger trains, Fs, FAs and E7s. Even the simplified scheme in the 1960s looked good. The GN Hustle Muscle SD45 is one of the most beautiful diesel restorations I've ever seen.

I feel the Big Sky Blue scheme did not look good on all locomotives, such as GN's F-units. However, on the freight locomotives and SDP40s and SDP45s it looked very nice. As noted by a previous poster, it as a bold bright paint scheme when most other railroads were content with drably painted locomotives and passenger cars.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/14 18:43 by RuleG.

OmahaTom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the straight-up smoothest paint schemes of
> all the ages. Wish someone would bring it back...
> livening either a heritage unit or fleet, or even
> on revenue equipment...
>
> Tom Loftus
> Omaha, NE

The Minnesota Transporttation Museum now has former GN 325 in their collection. Any idea of what scheme it will painted in? As neat as I think bsb is I think painting it back to empire builder orange and green to match their GN SD45 "Hustle Muscle" and operate them as a matched set would be very cool.

SP4436 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> The Minnesota Transporttation Museum now has
> former GN 325 in their collection. Any idea of
> what scheme it will painted in? As neat as I
> think bsb is I think painting it back to empire
> builder orange and green to match their GN SD45
> "Hustle Muscle" and operate them as a matched set
> would be very cool.

Hustle Muscle was never painted into Big Sky Blue. It survived to the BN merger in Orange and Brown.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Jim700 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Check out some of the GN SDP-40s on the thread
> from over six years ago at
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1
> 556849,1556982#msg-1556982. As I noted there, the
> digital speedometers had a mind of their own. On
> a cold-weather note, I remember watching on some
> winter nights as the depot car toads chipped the
> ice off of the front and rear cab doors of the
> arriving SDP-40 so that the engine crew returning
> home from Whitefish could exit the cab and go
> home. When the cab doors iced up it was
> impossible for the fireman to attend to a
> malfunctioning steam generator en route unless the
> train stopped so that a trainman could chip the
> ice away from the cab door. If the rear door
> wasn't ice-blocked, it was a dangerous trip for
> the fireman walking along the ice and/or
> snow-covered walkway at speed to get the steam
> generator running again.

And that is why GN asked EMD to build F45s. Too bad they did not think of it a few years earlier.

Best regards,

Rob L.

rob_l Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jim700 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Check out some of the GN SDP-40s on the thread
> > from over six years ago at
> >
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1
>
> > 556849,1556982#msg-1556982. As I noted there,
> the
> > digital speedometers had a mind of their own.
> On
> > a cold-weather note, I remember watching on
> some
> > winter nights as the depot car toads chipped
> the
> > ice off of the front and rear cab doors of the
> > arriving SDP-40 so that the engine crew
> returning
> > home from Whitefish could exit the cab and go
> > home. When the cab doors iced up it was
> > impossible for the fireman to attend to a
> > malfunctioning steam generator en route unless
> the
> > train stopped so that a trainman could chip the
> > ice away from the cab door. If the rear door
> > wasn't ice-blocked, it was a dangerous trip for
> > the fireman walking along the ice and/or
> > snow-covered walkway at speed to get the steam
> > generator running again.
>
> And that is why GN asked EMD to build F45s. Too
> bad they did not think of it a few years earlier.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob L.


ATSF asked EMD to build the FP/F45. GN was the last of the three carriers to sign on for this type of locomotive (ATSF, MILW and then GN/BN).