On the CB&Q EMD diesels had black handrails. They were not painted
white at the steps, just solid black (even on the Blackbirds). The
GE's, on the other hand, had their handrails painted Chinese red with
the handrails at the steps painted black. What confuses some on the
GE's (and somewhat on the EMD's) is that the black paint on the
handrails at the steps wore off quickly as the crews used these
constantly to get on/off the locomotive. The handrailsunder the paint
are a bare metal, therefore in later pictures the grabrails at the
steps sometimes look like the had been painted white - e.g see Holck's
Burlington Route Color Pictorial Vol. 2 pp 107, 115, 118 for what
looks almost like white grabs - but look toward the bottom of the
steps and you see the original black paint. Also, see pp 78, 93, 94,
103 for near new photos and you will see clearly that at the steps the
grabrails were painted black on both GE's and EMD's.
Walkways were painted Chinese Red, not black. Again Holck's Vol. 2 has
plenty of high angle shots that show this. Some people think they were
black because the dirt accumulated very quickly on these flat surface
where water, dirt, and oil (especially along the long hood at the
engine compartment doors) tended to pool quite readily and become
almost like paint. Even taking a locomotive through a washer tended to
primarily clean off only the vertical surfaces, which is what is
normally seen from the ground. Thus even very clean looking CB&Q
locomotives (and I feel the Q kept their diesels relatively clean for
the time) had almost black roofs and walkways when viewed from above -
thus the color confusion.
If you are detailing Atlas HO GP40's there is no need to paint the
handrails. On the Steart U25B's in HO the handrails came molded in
red. I don't like the out of the box color (it is hard to mold in
Chinese Red). A quick shot of Scalecoat II Chinese Red from a spray
can before removing the handrails from there sprues does wonders! The
paint the grabirons at the steps black. If you want a more weathered
look at the steps, I suggest using a dry brushed silver rather than
white. Look carefully at photos, because there are definite wear
patterns on the black paint - you definitely don't want to pain the
entire length of the grabs silver/white!
One final note - If you really want to model Q specific on the
handrails, the most important change on the Atlas GP40's/SD24's and
Stewart U25B's is to get rid of the opening and chains at the
dropsteps (many of the P2K models have the correct solid handrails). Q
diesels did not have dropsteps. The center area where the chains
usually hung was a solid piece of metal.
Tom Mack
Cincinnati, OH
Q Diesel fanatic (in case you can't tell)
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Byron Gohl" <gohlbd@y...> wrote:
>
> I am attempting to detail a couple of Atlas GP-40s and a U-25B to a
> bit more realistic standard, and would appreciate some information on
> colors on the "Q" (as we northern lines folks referred to it, or the
> land of the "waterwalkers" grin). Specifically, are the handrail
> sanctions black or red, and are the walkways black? Also, in the
> photos I have, it doesn't appear that the handrails at the end
> platforms were painted white as most other roads had done; were they?
> On the blackbird scheme, were any of the end platform handrails
> white? Thanks in advance,
>
> Byron Gohl
>
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