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Yard Switcher/Doodlebug Paint Scheme Development

To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Yard Switcher/Doodlebug Paint Scheme Development
From: jonathanharris@e...
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 10:24:13 -0900
Ed and others,

No doubt you're right that the hood unit paint scheme must have been
derived from the earlier switcher scheme. I'm sorry if my question was
unclear. I was wondering when and how the "blackbird" switcher scheme
itself came into being (you're not saying it's wrong to refer to the yard
switchers as "blackbirds" too, are you?).

If you're correct that EMD designers had a role in the development of this
scheme (and certainly its style, if not its specific colors, are similar to
their early diesels on other railroads), that suggests maybe it appeared
around the time of the Q's first EMD SWs in 1937, and only later was
applied to the Midwest, Porter and Whitcomb switchers already in service.
The late '30s would also be about the right time frame for the new twin
slogans WAY OF THE ZEPHYRS/EVERYWHERE WEST to show up on diesel hoods, so
it's plausible that all these design elements (colors, style, slogans) came
in together.

Perhaps, too, forerunner EMC had a hand in designing and applying those red
and yellow fronts on our doodlebugs, since similar colors appear on the
fronts of other RRs' gas electrics as well. I suppose these "high
visability" colors may originally have been added as a safety feature.

I still remain curious about the aesthetic design of the blackbird scheme a
whole. Did it have any symbolic meaning, like the the Santa Fe's warbonnet,
the two-tone greens of the North Coast Limited or the sunset colors of the
SP's passenger trains? Back in September, John Lee (citing Hol Wagner)
related how the newly merged BN chose its dominant "refreshing" green in
part to symbolize the railroad's involvement with forest products. Was
anything similar going on with the Q in the 1930s?

Finally, I still wonder about how the first CB&Q diesels were painted (were
they solid black, green, or what?); some day I may be lucky enough to have
an early diesel model that I want to paint in its original colors.

Thanks again,
Jonathan
--------------------

>Johnathan and Others:
>
>I strongly suspect that the colors selected for the first hood units,
>the GP7s, were derived from the switcher paint scheme by
>representatives from the CB&Q and EMD designers. My belief is
>founded in my observation of a painting by EMD designers of a Q
>GP7 in what many refer to as the "Blackbird" scheme.
>
>BTW, as far as I know, that term was not used on the railroad,
>but was coined by the hobby community.
>
>Ed DeRouin



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