D&RGW Color Question The decals are more yellow. If not D&RGW orange, What color are they? Thanks, Loco1999
DRGW locos lettering and stripes should be "Aspen Gold" - very similar to the color on both the IM tunnel motors and the Atlas SD50. However - a group of ex-Conrail GP40's were sold to DRGW when it took on additional trackage rights routes as a result of the UP/MP merger. These were finished by a contractor and are black and orange. The forthcoming Atlas GP40's are models of these units. There is varation from unit to unit from weathering, etc, but this is the basic story behind the DRGW color scheme. As far as DRGW orange - some freight cars were orange - but orange is a paint that fades rapidly, so you can expect DRGW orange cars, in addition to being very drty to have a wide variation of orange to yellow to pink shades. Lou
The Aspen Gold I know is more yellow than orange and was used on most DRGW locos and rolling stock from 1950 to 1968. The Rio Grande locomotives that received the large billboard lettering after 1968, as shown on those decals, was referred to as the "Action Road" lettering. From 1968 to 1984 the color was Aspen Gold, but, in 1984 they began to use Kansas City Orange, for some GP40s received from Conrail, later they changed that to Anshutz Orange (not as dark). The color of that lettering was a yellow/orange mix... closer to orange than yellow... but not a bright orange. (Note: they still call this darker shade of yellow/orange "Aspen Gold") [ 05. July 2004, 17:57: Message edited by: Calzephyr ]
Oops forgot the "Anschutz Orange"... I believe the GP60's and SD50's are the only units in this color.... Anyone have an IM SD40T-2 and an Atlas SD50 to photograph next to each other?
Check this for more than you might even want to know about DRGW loco paint schemes: http://utahrails.net/drgw/rg-diesel-paint-schemes.php
The only thing I've come up with to get it right is to mix some yellow and orange till you get a close match. Also, watch the decal sheets. They come in many shades of "Aspen Gold" or "DRGW Orange". Couple that with different manufacturers paint schemes and it becomes a real mess. Each DRGW unit I've done has required its own special mix of paint to get everything to match.
Don Strack is a master of details - look through the whole website.... He of course also has many books on the market as well covering west and east coast locomotive fleets.
Thanks for the great info. Also those websites are excellent. I'm going to try D&RGW Yellow. I'll post the results. Loco1999
