Nostalgia & History > I've never seen a purple cow....

But I HAVE seen a purple Baldwin!

Most people know of the LaSalle & Bureau County Railroad because of their role in an (ahem) *accounting dispute* over some Penn Central boxcars, but for many years they quietly shuffled cars between a zinc mill in LaSalle, IL and various railroad interchanges in Bureau and LaSalle Counties, ending in the branchline mecca of Ladd, IL (one of five RRs to call on Ladd).

Anyway, in September 1981 the LS&BC's owner, Carus Chemical Co., debuted this new paint scheme on its ex-U.S. Navy Baldwin No. 9. The striping and lettering were the same, but the base color of black was replaced with "permanganate purple", official corporate color of Carus Corp. and (not coincidently) the color of its primary product, Potassium Permanganate, used in water treatment among other things.

I was lucky enough to be working in the darkroom at the LaSalle News-Tribune when Carus' P.R. Director called the Editor asking for a photographer to come photograph the freshly-overhauled loco for a piece on the company's non-chemical businesses. The N-T was strictly a B&W operation in those days but fortunately I always kept a roll of color slide film in my bag for JUST such emergencies...

Sadly, the 9-spot did not stay on the "B" (as the local railroaders called it) very long, as it was shortly thereafter sold to Transkentucky Transportation Inc. where it kept its number but quickly received a coat of TTI blue and silver.

Hope you enjoyed,

NZ

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Looks more like a hot pink cow to me!

Cheers, Jim Fitch

It's kinda like ...

Grafitti

(Did Sam Vauclain just roll in his grave?)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/14 15:37 by LarryDoyle.

Jim, you're correct the color has a definite pink cast to it, but officially it's considered a shade of purple. This color was supposedly closely matched to the color of the potassium permanganate pellets Carus Chemical produces.

Either way, it wasn't going to go unnoticed approaching a grade crossing :-)

NZ

I like the steering wheel in it! 8^}

Yup....LS&BC:Let's Steal Box Cars!

Dick Samuels

Looks more like magenta to me.

I thought it was a Mattel "Barbie" edition switcher.

How about Pepto-Bismol pink?

Potassium permanganate is a deep redish purple....no pink.
Roger Beckett

Photoshop could fix that!

Marty Bernard

Years ago, wasn't there a car commercial with a couple old guys wondering what color the car was, and someone said "Fuschia"...?

Let's really get weird and assume that Ol' No. 9 has a single-tone horn. It runs on diesel fuel, which is a grade of petroleum distillate. In keeping with American railroad tradition, it has one headlight on each end. If it had to run at top speed to clear an interlocker, it would be a "one-eyed, one-horned flying purple petrol eater." And yes, I used to listen to Dr. Demento on the radio.

up833 Wrote:

> Potassium permanganate is a deep redish purple....no pink.

Pure KMnO4 is, but a dilute solution, a fine powder, or a pellet of otherwise white stuff with a relatively low concentration of KMnO4 can look pink:

http://www.oxidationsystems.com/products/permanganate.html
http://www.carbonshipper.com/sell-activated_alumina_ball_with_7_potassium_permanganate-629913.html

UP has a stack train that runs from Marion, AR to Oakland, CA called the KMNOA which always makes me think of potassium permanganate. I doubt LS&BC 9 would get very far trying to pull it, but it would be appropriate. ;^)

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> Photoshop could fix that!
>
> Marty Bernard

Try this...not at all what the engine looked like, but I aim to please!

NZ

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I love the improvement to the ballast.

Marty