Take a look at the following pic: And consider this excellent overview of D&RGW diesel paint schemes: http://utahrails.net/drgw/rg-diesel-paint-schemes.php. Note that the colors on your monitor may not match those I'm seeing, but my picture (at least on my monitor) accurately captures the colors of the units. Seems to me that: The Micro-Trains FTs are correct; The Intermountain FTs are too orange (it should come across as a goldish yellow, but definitely not orange, as this color does); The Atlas GP-30 (most recent version) is spot-on; The Atlas GP-35 is too orange; The Atlas GP-40 would be OK if it was one of the ex-Conrail units repainted after 1984 in Kansas City. Comments and corrections welcome Bryan Pfaffenberger Charlottesville, VA
I'm Glad You Asked Me That The different colors are Aspen Gold and DRGW orange. There might be a DRGW yellow that was very early on the bumble bee scheme. They were used at different times. Also, it may have been passenger/freight at one time. That exhausts my information, but I know that from a thread that was very long and had all the details. I am sure that someone more knowledgeable than I am can summarize. Check here. More. Lots of colors.
IMHO, the early Atlas paint is way too orange even for KC orange. The latest GP30 looks good, though! The IM FT's look OK, but it does seem a bit too orange. The color should be more yellow. Most of my D&RGW power is custom painted, for this reason. The Atlas SD50's look good to me, however, even the early ones.
Pretty much the same for me. The early Atlas/Kato's are too orange. The latest GP30 looks fine. The last release of the GP40's in "KC Orange" seem very close. It'll be interesting to see the new GP40's that are coming out next month.................color wise!
Yes, the Atlas GP40 (ex-CR) colors look good to me as well. Intermountain's Gold seems spot-on, to my eye. Both my F7's, and my TM's are very nice.
I concur with that assessment. The IM FTs look like a similar orange to the GP30 - the post-1956 orange. Did they receive this scheme in that color? I'm not a Grande expert.
Whose to say what is right and what is wrong. Unless the Rio Grande bought all of their paint from the same supplier at the same time and kept it under ideal conditions during the time they had it, there will be color variations. Even if they ordered the "same" color from their supplier, chances are it would be a different color from the previous lot of paint. The issue is very similar when buying tile, wood flooring, wallpaper, carpet, ect. You want to buy it all at once to avoid color variations. I think modelers are more concerned with what the "correct" color is more than the prototype did. Also, the paint companies didn't have the color matching technology that we have today. So it would have been very difficult for them to get a dead on match between lots. I kind of like the different color variations. Eric
Also, sun fading has somthing to do with how a color looks. I like a little variation in my models. Some are painted with Modelflex DRGW Gold, and others wear Polly Scale DRGW yellow. The colors are different, and they add a bit fo variety to the fleet.
Colorado50(Eric) has said it perfectly. There was a thread on the Atlas board a couple weeks back that claimed Atlas always does the RI blue wrong and therfore this person refused to order any of the GP38-2's. Now anybody who studies the Rock knows that the Rock blue lasted at factory level till it left the grounds of the factory and immediately began to fade. All of the DRGW books I have which show any color photos show variations in paint within consists more often than consists in agreement.
Even microscale couldn't get the colour right until recently. N scale supply had sheet 87-28 reduced to n scale and reproduced in the "correct" gold colours.
Some pix For reference purposes, here are a couple of links to photos on James Griffin's D&RGW page. They illustrate the contrast between Kansas City Orange (first used on the GP-40s acquired from Conrail in 1984), and the earlier Aspen Gold, which is noticeably more yellow. Here's one of the ex-Conrail GP-40s, decked out in Kansas City Orange: And here's a consist showing the difference (also from James Griffin's D&RGW page): --Bryan
To further elaborate on what Colorado 50 and George have said. Atlas and now Kato have taken a wise stance and offered their locomotives in a factory fresh OEM paint. To add to that, I know Atlas has taken extreme measures to match prototype colors to their models. That said, any color in the field will drift. Colorado 50 also points out the fact that color standards are better these days, not only better but easier. A BNSF locomotive painted in Erie PA will likely match a BNSF locomotive painted at Morrison Knudson as long as they are painted around the same time. The same could not be said in the early years of the BN when Cascade green had shades between an apple green to a darker forest green and everything in between depending on the shop. I see a few of us modelers getting so prototypical in the future as to paint our equipment in delieverys or runs. My B&M GP38-2's will wear the "Federal Blue" while the GP40-2's will wear the darker almost Conrail Blue.
