You are looking for a couple books (the two color volumes by Al Holck have excellent illustrations), and there are several relevant Burlington Bulletins. I'm no authority and don't have time to track all this stuff down and lay it out in a table or timeline. Here is a very broad overview, and know that there are significant exceptions to what follows.
The first diesels (yard switchers of diverse provenance) were painted solid black. I believe they had Roman lettering (unsure whether gold or white). The blackbird scheme for switchers — with the EW/WOTZ script — was introduced on the eve of WW2. I don't know whether the exact date is known, and there was some overlap with black. When road switchers (GP7, SD7) came in during the early 1950s they followed the blackbird scheme. The redbird scheme for road switchers was adopted in the late 1950s, and all subsequent new road switchers (post-GP9/SD9) were painted red/grey/white; however, some of the older units remained in blackbird until the end. In the very late 1960s, shortly before the merger, a number of units (GE engines, in particular) were painted in an experimental green/white scheme.
All the Burlington's F units were painted in the so-called Greyback scheme, with the exception of a trio initially used to power the California Zephyr, which were painted silver until after they were demoted to freight service.
From the Pioneer Zephyr until the end, E unit passenger diesels were silver — either natural, bare metal or painted. The change from black to red trim happens around the same time as the Redbird scheme is introduced.
Hope this helps,
Jonathan Harris
--- In cbq@yahoogroups.com, <southburlingtoncentral@...> wrote:
All I can tell you that the Redbird scheme replaced the Blackbird on road units, and Red nose stripes replaced black on passenger units in 1958, if I'm not mistaken.
--- In cbq@yahoogroups.com, <wscott@...> wrote:
I'd like to see the entire diesel era up until the end of the Q - is that possible, or am I looking for a book?
Bill Scott
There are a lot of different diesel schemes with both freight and passenger schemes. Road units, all switcher schemes, passenger diesel changes? Early generation or until the end of the railroad? Could you be more specific as to what you're looking for?
Rich G.
-----Original Message-----From: bobbinbill229 <wscott@...>To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>Sent: Sat, Sep 21, 2013 5:28 pmSubject: [CBQ] Diesel color schemes
Does anyone have a timeline of the color schemes that were used on the various diesel models on the CBQ?