OK folks, besides the John Deere colors (green & yellow) that Miss Katy's diesels had at M-day, have any of you ever painted up the ICG multi-color diesels (orange, white, primer, grime & rust), or the ex-Conrail units? What's your favorite Katy diesel paint scheme? Or for that matter, what's your least favorite? And, in the vein of "what-if", what paint scheme would you like to see a resurrected MKT sport on their locomotives? Input is desired.......
I really haven't thought much about the MKT but I have been working on the Missouri-Kansas-Eastern railroad.The line was the Chicago Missouri and Western.I have the old red with white stripes and letters and numbers in mind just like the standard Katy scheme.Just got to find someone to make my N-scale decals.
Have you checked out Oddballs Decals? If Tom had 'em, you could get the N scale decals and modify them to suit your needs. At the least, a modified "Barringer" scheme of red & white (not the Gawd-awful Deramus paint job).
Well, overwhelmingly my favorite would be the John Deere probably because it's what I know and love. However, if we propose that Miss Katy is still polishing the rails with her locomotives today, I would like to see her wide-nose SD70MAC's in a "Texas Special" inspired scheme, with a predominately red body, the Katy shield, and maybe silver trucks and fuel tank. I'm thinking either TS inspired stripes on the nose/cab and a medium size shield on the side, OR put the shield on the front and have a more modernized MKT stencil on the side. (think SOO) Lettering and shield would be white with silver accents/outline. All wide nose units would have this scheme while the John Deere scheme would be maintained on existing units.
Hm....... I like your line of thinking! I'm envisioning an SD70M painted much like the E-units were in the day, including a yellow bonnet. My parents moved us to Afton, OK in 1973, and I was familiar with Miss Katy from then until she was assimilated by the Borg. Except for all the ex-Conrail diesels and the John Deere units, the rolling junkyards Katy had running (the ex-ICGs and Kennecotts) were butt-ugly. I'm not sure I could handle one of those Kennecott GP39s in John Deere paint
But you could also update all the rummage sale diesels that the Katy had by painting them in the scheme's that you like or just putting them in the Pittman green.This is one thing that most modelers don't even think about cause they want to stay Katy true not prototype/freelance hey if its Katy painted Katy and has the Katy numbers its Katy if its KCC or ICG it may not be prototype when the Katy went out but who's to say what if it didn't get swallowed up by UP/MP.
Not being as much of a Katy fan as I am a Frisco fan, I'm not too torn up if the diesels for a new Katy were Barringer red or John Deere colors. But from my personal point of view, the ICG quad-color engines (orange, white, primer and rust) and the KCC engines are flippin' butt-ugly. I have a friend in Denison who paints ALL his Katy engines in the Barringer scheme- he prefers that one. It ain't prototypical, but it does look nice, so I'm OK with it. FWIW, I do have a slide I shot in Vinita, OK in December 1980 with three Conrail diesels, and not a Katy engine in sight. Two were on the point of a southbound freight (and hand a CNW caboose, to boot), while the third was on the point of a work train in a siding. This was about the time Katy was rebuilding its main line, and used crossties were plenty available. Good to hear from someone from Parsons......keep on postin'!
What a lot of people don't know about is the Katy had at one time was a lease/buy option on I think it was 3or4 more SD40-2's and 2or 3 GP35's from Conrail when they got the GP38's but let them go back when the Onion Pacific started there talks.Ok the SD's I could see but the GP35's come on now.
Uh-uh. MoPac was in the process of rebuilding GP35s to GP35Ms, to make something out of their units. And, BTW, they worked well, too I could just see the Conrail '35s- way too worn out for anything but parts sources. They'd be shop queens at Parsons. Actually, I could see GP40-2s in green & yellow......
Here is an MKT scheme painted up on a SD70M kind of like what Doug A. had mentioned. I did it in MSTS. I'm not great at painting but thought I would give it a shot. [ 21 March 2002, 04:23: Message edited by: ntex ]
ntex, welcome to Trainboard! Unfortunately, the pic didn't come across- what are you using for a browser to store pics?
SHARP!!! Imagine a trio of these beauties streaking south of Vinita, or over the bridges on Lake Eufala, or even north of Taylor, with a pig/stack train in tow..........
Kewl , ntex I like it ,I like it, A fellow here in Kansas did a GG-1 in the Pitmann green and Yellow scheme it was cool to. But I really like the way you did this scheme. Can I post it on the MKT yahoo site . See what others think . Fred
Ok they had 6 GP35's and 6 SD40-2's on the lease/buy option. But the more that I thought about it they could have deturbo charged them set them to 2000 h.p. and had al-la-Katy GP38's.Like the MoPac did to there's.But I think they were called GP28's. Sure the Katy bought a lot of junk but they new how to rebuild them and keep them running as long as they weren't G.E.'s. Prime example look at the F-unit it was a GP38 on the inside and the road slug last I new the whole set was still out there running.So people have a nack at turning junk into treasuer and the Parsons Shop did just that.
I won't argue with you about the Parsons boys' abilities to keep the fleet running- skill and a simplified parts inventory work wonders. But, I thought the Kennecotts came to Katy with the cabs & noses already lowered. Did the shops go over each locomotive , fixing 'em up for service, when they arrived, or were they ready-to-run from the seller? At any rate, I may say bad things about the junky-looking paint jobs, but Katy's first priority was to have mechanically sound diesels pulling trains- the paint jobs would have to wait. My comment about the parts inventory, of course, refers to the bad old days when Katy was buying locomotives from everybody. I can testify to the U-boats- I have shots of two of the 3 GEs sitting off by themselves, walkways crammed with dead batteries, behind the shops at Parsons back in the 1980s. I am kinda curious- what did the railroad do when a coal train came thru with GEs, and the darn things went down?
The KCC's had work done on them away from home shops.The three u-boats nobody learned about them till it was to late.The ones on coal trains got fixed in Parsons unless it was to bad then they dead headed them to the nearest interchange point and let the owner fix them. But for the most part by then the shop guys learned enough to do running repairs or they brought someone in who did know come and fix it.
I don't mind anybody using the paint job pictures. Glad you like them. Did the U23Bs roam the system or did they stay in one certain territory/subdivision? [ 31 March 2002, 14:40: Message edited by: ntex ]
That's good to know- thanks! Wonder if the expertise extended to the Denison boys? I saw an awful lot of MP's C36-7s on this line (trackage rights trains). Again, I'm not casting bad light on the Parsons crews- I remember reading about their frustration in having to keep parts inventories for locomotives from several builders. It's also kind of a shame MKT never picked up on the intricacies of GE power- it may have been interesting to see B23-7 or B30-7s in green & yellow.........or even a reincarnated Barriger red.
The U-boats went south and north but after a while they stayed real close to Parsons, I think Coffeyville was as far south as they went at the end but not for sure. If the guys in the shops would have been better trained you probly would have seen more G.E.'s
