Steam & Excursion > B&O Mikado 4537, 2 Questions....

I found this slide in a collection I bought several years ago and it raises two questions to me. First, did B&O ever actually paint any freight engines in dark blue as they did with their Pacifics? This one sure looks like it to me. Note the difference between the boiler and the tender.
And, where was this taken? I suspect it's west of Cincinnati on the St. Louis line but I could be wrong. Please ID the roundhouse if you can.
The original slide was shot by E G Baker who was from Louisville, Ky.

-JH

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I'm thinking that the boiler jacket might be reflecting the clear blue sky.

Sure indicates as a blue shade (RGB 86,118,131) but a lot of black locomotives show the same blue when actually measuring RGB.  So, maybe it is blue, maybe not.  Notice the turntable pit.  We KNOW it isn't blue, don't we?  It sure looks blue in the photo.

Ed



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/16 08:18 by Auburn_Ed.

The cylinder covering will tell you that it is indeed blue as is the boiler jacket.

tomstp Wrote:
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> The cylinder covering will tell you that it is
> indeed blue as is the boiler jacket.

I don't by it. Why is the counterweight on the main driver "bluish", yet the side of cab is black?

Could this be a Ektachrome slide which had a blueish tine to objects?

Black jacket not blue

Posted from iPhone

Having known EG personally, my best guess is that he did not venture too far from Louisville.
I believe the photo was taken at Washington IN.
No comment about the color.
ALLEN

I won't speculate on the colors, but that sure is a nice USRA Light Mike.  B&O engines always had a "railroady" look to them.    Thanks for posting it Jim.

My oppinion is that it is black.  I don't think they ever painting their mikes blue.
As someone who does a lot of fine art paintings of steam locomotives, I can tell you that engines often look blue, (even in person), when they are actually black. When I do a painting of a steam engine, I never even use black paint.  I use a couple different blues, unbleached titanium (off white), alizarine crimson, and burnt umber (brown). Here are some examples below. I used absolutely NO black paint on either painting. The point is, black looks blue on a crystal clear day, particularly in the fall when the sun is low in the sky.

That all being said, I have a book on the B&O, and in some of those photos it is nearly impossible to tell if the engine is blue or black.  The only time you can tell is when you have a black engine sitting next to a blue one...

(sorry for the poor quality of the reproductions below).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/16 09:40 by steam290.

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