Model Railroad Paint Schemes

Most of us have a favorite railroad for one reason or another.  Maybe it’s because a particular road ran though the area of our childhood home and it brings back fond memories, or a variety of other reasons.

It could be simple aesthetics.  Because let’s face it, cool paint jobs attract attention.

When it comes to railroad companies, the paint scheme is sometimes more recognizable than the road’s herald.  Even people who aren’t railfans or modelers know a Union Pacific locomotive when they see one.

So when it came time to design a paint scheme for the Erie & Southern, I thought long and hard about it.  It’s much more than just paint, it’s brand name recognition.

Keeping it real

Most importantly, I wanted the paint scheme to be realistic.  I’ve always had somewhat of a flair for design and logo work, but my owns tastes trend towards the modern end of the spectrum.  In my several attempts, something just wasn’t sitting right with me, no matter how happy with the design I was.

For those of you reading this who are trying to come up with a paint scheme for your own freelanced railroad, learn from my mistake and do your homework first.  The best source of inspiration is the real thing.  Study many paint schemes of the era you’re modeling before you put pen to paper.

My first designs were far too modern for the 1950′s.  They were far too complex.  Looking back now, there’s little chance that I would’ve been able to paint most of those early designs anyway.  So it was back to the drawing board.

There are some great sources of inspiration on the internet that have great photos.  Railroad Picture Archives is one of my favorites, and features freight cars and locations in addition to locomotives.

Givens and Druthers

Using John Armstrong’s method of solving model railroading problems, it became increasingly clear to me that I needed to simplify my design.  Givens are things that can’t easily be changed, the “needs”.  I needed something easy to paint.  Custom paint work can be very expensive and locating a source can be difficult…especially for N scale models.

Druthers are choices that need to be made, the “wants”.  For me, the wants were fairly simple.  Among other things, my grandfather was a farmer, and loved his John Deere tractors.  Therefore, I wanted a green-based paint scheme.  I also wanted something prototypical, a design that could’ve been seen rolling down the tracks in the 1950′s.

For those of you just getting started, the Railroad Paint Shop is a great place.  It features many to-scale drawings of many engine models that you can save and edit yourself in a paint program.  There are also many prototypical samples, as well as those done by others.  If you’re really stumped, there’s even a tutorial on how to design realistic model railroad paint schemes.

The Results

With well over 50 paint schemes tossed aside, I finally came up with one I liked.  The design gave birth to a new color, which I have aptly dubbed “Erie Green”.  What I discovered in my research was that most roads featured fancier designs prior to the 1960′s.

The Erie & Southern paint scheme is a classic design using Railroad Roman font with relatively muted colors.  Yellow pinstripes and lettering complement the two-tone green look, and will make the locomotives “pop” when going around the layout or being photographed.

Here is the paint scheme applied to an EMD GP7 with dynamic brakes:

And a Fairbanks-Morse H-24-66 Train Master:

Tagged as: paint scheme