Okay, I was flipping through a pictorial of Amtrak today, and it finally hit me, they ahve way too many paint schemes! If they are loosing money there is probably the reason, they spend it all on paint. I think it is okay to have the special schemes on the Cascades, Surfliners ect... But in 25 years they are already on version number 4 of there paint scheme, and there were sevreal other schemes too. I also heard they are about to introduce #5! Give it a rest! I mean I like it, but considering that US peoples are having to pay for it, it aint so good anymore, is it! There is version #1 of the red white blue, then #2 then #3 then #4 sounds like #5 is on its way and then there is some stuff in the east painted for Acela! sheesh! Also, there engines are even worse. It is okay to have so many paint schemes, but it is a pass. train, try and co-ordinate! I saw the Cascades come by today with a Surfliner unit, looked very bad. Why can't they go 2 years with out chaning their paint!! Happy Railroading!! Dane N. ------------------ BC Rail King TAMR2860@Canada.com for TAMR info. BCRailKing@Canada.com
I think it's part of Amtrak trying to give the consumer a feel of "this is my train". It's regionalization in action. One of the complaints Americans have had about Amtrak in the past was the feel of it being too generic in appearance. This new trend of painting everything a different scheme for a different area is to combat some of those feelings. ------------------ RAILROADING-TO-THE-MAX, Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Style! Brent Tidaback, Member #234
Every time I go anywhere in England, I see several new paint schemes We sure have a lot of variety now, since privatisation. ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
It's not that bad. I've seen the Surfliner cars on their inaugural runs and I think they're nice looking cars, and give regular riders a consistent image for the train. I'm kinda looking forward to all the sets being put into service. I'll miss the San Diegan name, and the cars they used, but well, what can you do? And Amtrak seems to be settling on the Phase IV paint scheme on the remaining F40PH's, Genesis series, and (sadly) the P32-8BWH units. I hate to see the Dash-8's get repainted, the "Pepsi Can" scheme those units were delivered in was the best! ------------------ Have A Nice Day!
Dane you little ******* This is how AMTK paint schemes break down: Phase I: Fat Red and Blue striping along middle of car, with white pinstriping separating the two, Amtrak arrows at ends of car. Phase II: Same as above, but no arrows Phase III: 3 Equal sized (almost, the white band is a bit narrower) Red, White and Blue stripes Phase IV: Red and white pinstriping at top of color band, Dark/Navy blue is predominant color covering most of the color band Phase III is slowly fading into history, as Amtrak applies the Phase IV colors onto its entire fleet. Most of the P42/40's are in Phase III, but as they come in for over hauls they get IV. Every LD car will get it.. eventually. Its very uneconomical and just stupid to paint all of your fleet at once. Now for the corridors... Cascades, Cream/Green/White paint. Surfliners, Blue and Grey California Cars, Tan, Blue and Yellow.. think there is a dash of red in there too. Acela [Oh dear..]: The Amfleet I cars that are going through the Capstone 2000 rebuilding program will get the Green/Light Green/Lime Green/White paint design applied around the windows. These cars will be used for Acela services other then Acela Express. The Acela trainsets will get/have Grey, Blue and Teal on them. They arent as, striking, as the Amfleet cars are. Dont worry Dane, should all the engines stay where they should, there CAN be uniform consists. Hell, you think its bad now? Gawd, you should've seen Amtrak during the "Rainbow" days.. that or any train with a formidible amount of shared/interchanged passenger cars. Oh and i almost forgot, the AEM7's have been stripped to the steel, and have light blue trim on the bottom. An Acela logo will be applied soon enough. Justin
Justin, thanks for the comprehensive review. It clears thing up for us 'foreigners' ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
Again thanks Justin that was a very nice job. Question I have is what phase was the solid red face that looked so good on the E's & F's that was early on in Amtrak's colored history?
TJ, That would be concidered Phase-I for Locomtives. Phase-II would be the wide Red and Blue stripes with white pinstripes and no pointless arrows on the Locomotive. I have some more news on the Chicago to St. Louis corridor comming up, maybe tonight! ------------------ RAILROADING-TO-THE-MAX! Brent Tidaback, Member #234 and a N-Scaler to boot!
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by throttlejock: Again thanks Justin that was a very nice job. Question I have is what phase was the solid red face that looked so good on the E's & F's that was early on in Amtrak's colored history?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> That would be Phase I. Solid red face, silver carbody, and large Amtrak Arrow on the side. The E units, F units and SDP40's got that. I think there was black by the cab windows on some engines. By Ph. II most of the E's got scrapped already, but a few stayed along long enough to get this paint applied. The P30CH's were delivered in this paint. I think all the F's were scrapped by then (Not FL9's). The FL9's made it into Phase III and 2 are still around today. The first F40PH's were also delivered with Phase II. GG1's got either all black with Amtrak in white letters, or a silver/black/red/blue paint scheme. Justin
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Justin: Dane you little ******* This is how AMTK paint schemes break down: Phase I: Fat Red and Blue striping along middle of car, with white pinstriping separating the two, Amtrak arrows at ends of car. Phase II: Same as above, but no arrows Phase III: 3 Equal sized (almost, the white band is a bit narrower) Red, White and Blue stripes Phase IV: Red and white pinstriping at top of color band, Dark/Navy blue is predominant color covering most of the color band Phase III is slowly fading into history, as Amtrak applies the Phase IV colors onto its entire fleet. Most of the P42/40's are in Phase III, but as they come in for over hauls they get IV. Every LD car will get it.. eventually. Its very uneconomical and just stupid to paint all of your fleet at once. Now for the corridors... Cascades, Cream/Green/White paint. Surfliners, Blue and Grey California Cars, Tan, Blue and Yellow.. think there is a dash of red in there too. Acela [Oh dear..]: The Amfleet I cars that are going through the Capstone 2000 rebuilding program will get the Green/Light Green/Lime Green/White paint design applied around the windows. These cars will be used for Acela services other then Acela Express. The Acela trainsets will get/have Grey, Blue and Teal on them. They arent as, striking, as the Amfleet cars are. Dont worry Dane, should all the engines stay where they should, there CAN be uniform consists. Hell, you think its bad now? Gawd, you should've seen Amtrak during the "Rainbow" days.. that or any train with a formidible amount of shared/interchanged passenger cars. Oh and i almost forgot, the AEM7's have been stripped to the steel, and have light blue trim on the bottom. An Acela logo will be applied soon enough. Justin<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Don't make me send carp mail to your house again (BTW-did you get those adds I sent u yet, they are spares I pulled out of MR). Anyway, I am not saying it looks bad when there is a uniform consist, I ma saying it looks bad the rest of the time (July 99 TRAINs, page 30, top photo). You should have seen Via's Rainbow Days Happy Railroading!! Dane N. ------------------ BC Rail King TAMR2860@Canada.com for TAMR info. BCRailKing@Canada.com
Don't forget the Empire Service Turbo Trains. The first one that has been in service for a while has a striking red/grey scheme but the next two now or just out from rebuild have a different scheme that I have yet to see. I guess this would be considered a regional variation.
