Nostalgia & History > Embarrassing Paint on Revenue Service Locomotives

I sure you all have some photos of locomotives long overdue for a paint job. When I saw this one near the docks in Mobile, AL in 2008, I thought how embarrassed anyone associated with the CN would be to see it out in the open, next to a road, and used on trains. The CN traded or sold the locomotive and it belonged to RMPX (RailCar Limited) leasing. But the CN worm is clearly visible. A locomotive's paint job is an advertisement for the railroad. This advertisement says, "We don't even care enough to take care of our locomotives."

I'm sure some of you can come up with worse -- not out of service locomotives, but ones in revenue service which the public can see.

Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/14 17:54 by MartyBernard.

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Heck that thing looks good compared to some x-Milw units still running around and quite a few shortlines have some awful looking power.

Looks like somebody hit it with a power washer trying to get the dirt off and ended up taking off paint too.

That's almost disgusting looking. Many locos in the SP fleet in the early 1990's and 95% of the Chicago Central's units in any year could also easily compete in this contest. I agree the ex Milw Rd units offer strong competition.

Greg

Old quote: "Paint doesn't pull freight." That said, you'd think good PR
would dictate not only good paint, but a clean engine. Just saying.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

ntharalson Wrote:
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> Old quote: "Paint doesn't pull freight." That
> said, you'd think good PR
> would dictate not only good paint, but a clean
> engine. Just saying.

While it is true that paint doesn't pull freight, what a railroad really wants to pull is money, as in out of some shipper's pocket.

In the old days you had to convince the president of the shipper to trust your road, and he probably knew what his company made and wanted it to get there in one piece. Now (unfortunately) you are probably dealing with someone on the 14th floor of the shipping department that is oblivious to all forms of transportation other than her Geo and the Bart train she takes, and she only sees the inside of the car, so paint on an engine isn't even an imaginable concept.

That's the approach Clark Hungerford took when he assumed the presidency of the Frisco. Seeing one of the 4500 4-8-4s on the ready track with the FFF logo and striping on the tender, he asked how much tonnage did that pull. Pretty soon the 4500s and all of the passenger steam engines with the Doric striping ended up just plain jane, becoming what is known as the "Hungerford" paint scheme.
Was sad.