Sunday, August 14, 2022

Rock Island U33B, #285

3 down, 2 to go...

This 3rd U-Boat carries the Maroon and Yellow scheme with the large speed lettering that was common on the Red and Yellow scheme of the 70's, I always thought this to be a interesting combination, because looking at Black & White pics of the Rock Island, it was sometimes hard to tell what colors the locos wore.

Also noteworthy, this loco has had it's trucks replaced with new ones.  Evidently this was done after the road decided to switch to Red & Yellow scheme.  In the Maroon era, trucks and fuel tanks were painted black, in the 70's with the change to Red & Yellow the trucks and fuel tanks were now painted in a medium gray, which is very close to UP Harbor Mist gray or SP Dark Lark gray, but after a few months of service, they got so dirty they began to look black.  I tried to keep mine a little cleaner so the gray showed up.






Here's a shot of the three I have done so far, we see them crossing the Ouachita River bridge.   I really need to get this area sceniced...








2 comments:

  1. I like the newer red replaced door panel. Was that prototypical for this engine?

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    1. Maybe not for this specific loco, but it was quite common on a lot of their GE's as the doors were interchangeable. This was especially noticeable in the later years before the shutdown. Follow this link for an example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalrailartist/50940404428/in/album-72157718281157778/

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