I have a small string of heavy weight pullman passenger cars I want to add to my layout. They have a black roof with two shades of grey on the side. The light shade is a band through the windows. I want to pull these with a E or F unit or even a C Liner from the 50's. Would the engine most likely had a cigar band or a lightning stripe? I don't have to be exact here, just reasonably close. Thanks in advance; Charlie
NYC's black scheme with a single narrow white stripe was introduced in 1961, IIRC. In the 50s, it was two-tone lightning stripe.
Charlie, the experimental color schemes that led to the all gray cigar band color scheme on the E-units were applied in September 1961. I'm not sure how much later the gray cigar band scheme became commonly applied. Most references I see only say early 1960s. I would use the lightning stripe scheme with those cars. By the early 1960s there wasn't much passenger service anymore. Either scheme would be correct. It's your railroad so do what pleases you. Hope this helps.
Thank you very much. I am pulling them now with an RS-3 with lightning stripes, to me they just don't look right. Right or not, the single white band would look better. To quote Mike,"It's your railroad so do what pleases you." works for me. Thanks guys!
The lighthing stripes came before the cigar band. I never liked the cigar band, and some lightning stripes lasted a long time. I'd vote for the stripes, but then I know nothing about diesels. :tb-biggrin:
LIGHTNING STRIPES...just 'cuz!!!!! Sorry, but the end of the stripes marked the beginning of the end for our Beloved Central...SMERF!
