I've read some of the messages herein about the paint schemes for the early diesels. I'm still a little confused even after reading and re-reading "Diesels of the Southern Railway". Were the freight diesels painted black from 1941 until about 1949, when they were then painted green, and then back to black again in the late 1950's?

Were the Passenger diesels also green from their inception through the mid 1950's?

I'd like to model the Southern sometime around the late 1940's to the early 1950's. While I like the idea of green freight diesels, I'd like to be as accurate as possible.

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

John Bynum Hill

-- John Bynum Hill (clanhill@mindspring.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

Basically -- Yes.

From what I've been able to find, the early Southern freight diesels (EMD FT, F2 and F3 units) were delivered in black and white (imitation aluminum) paint. These had yellow striping between the major colors, although there is some indication that the yellow was not applied to the first FT units at delivery.

Passenger diesels (E-6 A/B, DL 109/110 and the 1946 batch of E-7As were delivered in Southern green with small lettering and imitation aluminum (really aluminum in the first E-6s) in three areas: the lower body/front as in all Southern units, a second side stripe, and the roof/top of body.

The modified passsenger scheme was first applied to the 1949 batch of E-7As and the F-7s delivered about the same time. This has only the single white stripe. Around 1949, green replaced black on the freight units and also the GP, RS and Trainmaster road switchers delivered starting in the late 1940s.

I don't think I've ever seen a green FT unit. My guess is that these were only repainted if they were rebuilt to F7 rating. Perhaps some other reader can provide more detail here.

Green units would be appropriate for a Southern layout set in the 1949-early 1950s time period.

-- Tom Warne (twar@chevron.com), December 10, 2001.

"These had yellow striping between the major colors, although there is some indication that the yellow was not applied to the first FT units at delivery."

There always was a stripe. The falsehood about no stripe can be attributed to one of the erroneous captions in Willey and Wallace's The Southern Railway Handbook. The gray tone of yellow blended into the imitation aluminum in a B&W picture in the book, so they put in the caption that it had no stripe.

"I don't think I've ever seen a green FT unit. My guess is that these were only repainted if they were rebuilt to F7 rating. Perhaps some other reader can provide more detail here. "

FT's got green, as well as everything else, starting IIRC in May 1949. I believe the repainting proceeded quickly, so green is the color for most of the fifties.

-- Jack Wyatt (cjwyatt@bellsouth.net), December 10, 2001.