In early 1957 I drove with my family to Bluefield WV to see relatives who were living there at the time; I was in high school and knew something about railroads, although not nearly so much as I would learn in later years (and there weren't nearly so many resources on the prototype back then), and expected to see the last stronghold of steam locomotives south of the Canadian border. Bluefield was a major maintenance point for locomotives and I surely saw more steam--and BIG steam--than I could have conceived. Sadly, New York State was early dieselized, even for class I roads that were still operating steam elsewhere, so this was a treat. What DID catch my eye in the Bluefield terminal, however, were three or four Alco RS-3's and about the same number of GP-9's, which I was told were the very first ones on the N&W. And they were basic black with gold or dulux lettering, nothing fancy. Whether additional ones were later painted maroon or red for passenger service, I frankly don't know, N&W not being a line I normally follow closely, but I can say that while I was there I did see several passenger trains, and they were all pulled by steam (mostly J's, I believe, although there may have been a 4-8-2 mixed in).
So I vote with Earl, and not George and Tom, that the first N&W diesels were black. I saw them. Jace Kahn General Manager Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co. > To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:48:26 -0500 > Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Red N&W locos > > I viewed a utube video just a couple of weeks ago from filming done at a > NHRS Convention in Roanoke immediately prior to the dieselization. I wish I > could locate it to give you the link. It was fantastic filming (silent) > of locomotives of both the N&W and the Virginian (electrics included) > including statis trains and convention excursions. Maybe someone on this > list > has the link. > > There is a photo of GP7s, or maybe GP9s, with a caption saying these were > the first N&W diesels the photographer had ever seen. The paint scheme was > black with gold (or yellow ?) lettering, very dull and plain much like the > Pennsy, but looking so much like the S GP9 models of AMERICAN MODELS. But > there were no red diesels in the film. > > - Earl Henry, Nashville > > In the summer of 1958 the N&W began to dieselize it's passenger service. > At first they used borrowed units such as from the ACL and allowed Southern > trains to run through with Southern diesels from Bristol to Lynchburg. > However they replaced the borrowed units with the red GP's as the first > diesels. These were dual use diesels of course. > When they began replacing the steam freight locomotives those diesels were > black. > > George Courtney > > If I recall correctly, the first N&W diesels were red. Some of us > thought of them as PRR red. > > Regardless of the hue, some at least were red. I have a slide of two > Geeps on the "Pochahontas" near Crewe but the sun did not cooperate. It's > hard > to determine the color, but I recall red passenger cars on the train. > > > > Tom > > Don Thompson found us a red N&W loco, # 620. Here's a picture. > > _http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=436167_ > (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=436167) > > tom Hawley [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
