Paint shops didn't always follow painting instructions to a T. At Electro-Motive, we had styling and painting diagram drawings for every locomotive order. Occasionally, we still made mistakes, either in creating the drawing or in interpreting the drawing. When Soo Line created their slanted logo for the side of the locomotive, we managed to order the decals slanted in the wrong direction. Nobody realized it until the first locomotive was complete! We also misnumbered a whole order of Boston and Maine GP locomotives and, of course, had to renumber them before they shipped. Minor paint variations often occurred, both in manufacturing and in RR paint shops.
While it wasn't painting, Lines West on the Q usually polished the main and side rods of steam locomotives, while Lines East just painted them black. Note that Hol Wagner's recently posted photo of O5 no. 5626 under construction at West Burlington, already has the rods painted black. And then, of course, there is the FW&D diesel switcher which was painted Chinese Red in spite of Mechanical Dept. instructions that switchers would remain in black and gray. As I recall, after Chicago saw it, it was repainted black.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills. MO Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:35 pm (PST) . Posted by:Well there is this company that came out with Mikados in Z scale. (You might have seen them advertised in the last few Model Railroader Magazine)
Of course they made some kind of generic light and heavy USRA Mikes and slapped on some paint for the different roads. And of course they will not be 100 percent accurate models of CB&Q engines,
I dont know where they got the pictures for placing the heralds, but all of them (practically every road) placed them WAY aft of the center-line. There was much gnashing of teeth on the forums, and people started to go into one camp or the other, saying that the photos (taken at angles) prove it was so or not so, even bringing in all kinds of math and computer programs to prove it.
Well one of the big wheels at the company who makes them was kind of bragging about how accurate his models were, and they always used plans. That is when I slapped down the link to the painting guide, from the Q, that shows the herald is supposed to be centered on the tenders.
So now we get the "well the guys in the paint shop doesn´t always follow orders" excuse.
Now I know there is nobody here who were railroaders in 1927, however, the impression I get is, that orders for things like painting a locomotive, especially in those days, would have been followed to a "T".
__._,_.___
![]()
__,_._,___
|