Genessee & Wyoming fugly

[sirenwerks]

I have been simultaneously admiring and trying to make sense of European railroads these days.  I live about 100 yards from a pretty active Genessee & Wyoming property and am regularly sickened by its paint scheme as trains pass.  I respect the companies chutzpah and growth and apologize to the fans of G&W roads but, while I understand the concept of branding, forcing the same paint scheme, especially one so grotesque, onto communities across the US is a) wrong headed and b) mean.  I'm no fan of eating fries with mayo but when I spied a photo of what the G&W has done in Europe, well, it just made me a) throw up in my mouth a little and b) want to apologize to all European railfans. It is even more hideous than G&W's US scheme and will only serve to reinforce Europeans' belief that Americans have no/awkward tastes.

[learmoia]

Ok.. the G&W paint scheme goes back to the 1970s when they were a short line around Rochester, NY..  soooo...  if you ran the company, what would you do instead...

~Ian

[nkalanaga]

So, what's wrong with their paint scheme?  I have no desire to model it, or one of their roads, but it doesn't bother me.

[oakcreekco]

Compared to the Washington Corp scheme, the G&W ain't easy on the eyes. Ugly.

[wazzou]

For the uninitiated, here is the scheme.
It’s not my favorite by any means, but far from the worst I’ve seen.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

All they need to do is add a little more red to the yellow and it'd be great.

It's the shade of yellow that kills it.

[Dave V]

Meh...  Everyone knows there are only three acceptable colors for diesel locomotives. Brunswick Green (DGLE), Tuscan Red, or Pantone PMS 300 Blue.

[jpec]

Like the CSX Pumpkin, Ann Arbor and CSS, it looks ghastly when it's clean but much better with some road filth...

[davefoxx]

I agree with Ed about the yellow.  If the yellow was reduced to the side sills and the corner handrails, it would be much improved.  In fact, if you look close, the handrails are all yellow, except the corners are black!  That’s reversed from what you usually see, and I would think yellow at the corners would be safer.

In short, add orange handrails with yellow at the corners, black pilots, and orange stairwells with yellow step edges.  Fixed.

DFF

[wazzou]

I’d imagine the shade of Yellow is chosen for grade crossing visibility.

[mu26aeh]

I've got 2 versions of the G&W that interchange with CSX on the Hanover Sub, so it's a given they'll be included.  I don't mind the colors, just odd when you have 2 brand new painted locomotives show up in 2 very different shades of orange

[learmoia]

I prefer the original scheme to what they are doing now... but I didn't realize that the yellow goes back to the old scheme in the 1970s.

[sirenwerks]

Ok.. the G&W paint scheme goes back to the 1970s when they were a short line around Rochester, NY..  soooo...  if you ran the company, what would you do instead...

~Ian

First, for whatever reason the photo I posted did not appear. So I reposted it.  Look at it.


Second, That scheme worked in the 1970s, in upstate NY.  The scheme does not work, IMO, in Oregon's Willamette Valley or many of the other places G&W operates lines in.


If I ran the company, I'd chose a scheme less insulting to the eye, to start with.

[wazzou]

I have no idea of the era or location of the scheme you posted.
I’ve never seen it, but I agree, that’s hideous!
Your post intimated that what you see locally is the scheme that you posted and I know that’s not true.
What I posted a photo of, is their current scheme.

[nkalanaga]

That European scheme doesn't BOTHER me, but I have doubts about visibility.  Too many places here in Appalachia, out of the hollers, on a sunny day, it would blend in with the vegetation.

I doubt that the US scheme would ever blend in with anything, which is a good thing for a locomotive.  They should attract attention, especially at grade crossings.