This is something i've never really put much thought into... Guess you don't have to really worry when you model the bigger roads. That crack about the NEC modelers brought a grin to my face!
Believe it or not, I like the old Penn Central. There only recently seems to be a resurgence(sp?) of models in this paint scheme that was so popular when the merger first took place. I find it funny that there are models of PRR and Conrail diesels in the same series from different manufacturers, but they leave out the eight years of PC. Models that represent prototypes introduced in 1966 come decorated for PRR and CR, but no PC. My guess is that many of them spent most of their useful lives in PC black, not brunswick green or blue. Thankfully, they're super easy to paint and decal--how hard is it to paint something all black and put on a few decals?!?! I bought a book called "Penn Central Power," and discovered that the "worm" found its way onto some really unique diesels, to include a lot of really old first generation stuff that you might not expect like Baldwin S-12s, Alco RS-1s, and FM H-16-44s, not to mention the "usual" GPs, SDs, Fs, and Es. Some of my fun is in "what-iffing" and thinking about what a PC paint scheme would look like if it had been a successful and long-lasting merger like BNSF should be. I imagined a black C44-9W with five thick parallel jade green stripes outlined and separated by thin white reflectorized stripes, starting at a single point and separating while they curve upwards to a horizontal run like the old five-stripe PRR scheme, but then doing the NYC "lightening sripe" zig-zag about a third of the way back. Same thing for an AMD-103 to be used in commuter service up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie (sp again?). Sorry, you NH guys and gals, but I couldn't think of how to incorporate anything "NH-esque" into my imaginary paint scheme. One thing, though, black and teal (read "jade green") sure are popular colors these days... IHC does make some nice "supposed to have been" PC passenger cars that my kid absolutely loves--his favorite color is any shade of turquoise, greenish to bluish. I also am glad to have L&N and Frisco models available--I lived near both's main lines as a kid--frist in Belleville, IL, and later in Webster Groves, MO. Bob Massie
