E2 City of San Francisco

[engineshop]

I just won a N-Scale E2 ABB shell set that I want to turn into the City of San Francisco train.
The shells (that should fit Kato E8 chassis) were manufactured by a company out of San Jose, Ca called Porthole Production. Maybe somebody has more information about that.

It will replace the LL E6 set I did a couple of years ago.



Now I am looking for colored pictures since it said in the paper that came with the shells that the roof was actually painted brown. I was wondering if they repainted it later, so it matches the more modern UP colored coaches that were used on that train.
I checked the internet but only could find black and white pictures.
Thanks

[3rdrail]

Roland, it is quite possible that the E2's were originally yellow and brown, as that was how the M-10000 and the GE steam turbine were painted in the mid-1930's. If may be very hard to find photos, though, more likely some UP advertising material might have a color rendition.

[Chris333]

Sept. 1973 MR has drawings and info.
March 1995 MR has a write up on how to paint them.

Neither show color prototype photos, but there is a color model shot.

[up1950s]

Says Yellow and brown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_E2
www.pentrex.com/galpg29.html

Yours look more like E-6's SF-4,5,6 which were yellow and gray

www.trainweb.org/fredatsf/sf41_files/image002.jpg

[engineshop]

Thanks for the help. I'll try to get the MR issue.

[Chris333]

If you can't find it let me know ; )

[Nato]

   I have two 3 Unit sets of these shells one as the City Of San Francisco SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 and the other as the City,Of Los Angeles LA 1 LA 2 LA 3. Yes these locos were originally Armor Yellow and Leaf Brown with red striping. In 1941 when the E-6 diesels arrived and new passenger cars with bright chrome strips above and below the windows the Brown was changed to Harbor Mist Gray. Passenger cars on the 1937 trains had brown not gray roofs and skirting. These cars were semi-articulated. Your best very complete source of information on these trains is the massive 592 pp. book "The Union Pacific Streamliners" by William Kratville. Kratville Publishing (c) 1974. The Porthole Products shells are some what crude, the detail is rather shallow so paint covers it unless you use thin coats. These shells originally were designed to fit the old Roco Atlas E-7 drive ,which is what I used at first. The newer Life Like E-6/7 drive will work. Originally I had my locos with one A and one B powered and one dummy B. I have Redone one A-B loco so far with Life Like Drives,left one dummy have not yet converted my other set. Trucks on these diesels were originally Brown like passenger car trucks. These were changed to Gray in 1941. If you have gray & Yellow cars, then paint your loco with Gray it would look better than a Yellow & Brown loco pulling Yellow & Gray cars. I used Bare Metal Foil (rubb on) to do the chrome nose hearald back grounds. My decals were the old Walthers N sets for these locomotives before Micro Scale offered them. My last word be careful when filing on the shells, they can break really easly as the castings around fuel tanks and skirtings are very thin.Headlights can be slowly drilled out to avoide cracking the nose.                          Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.