@MELGAR posted:Jonathan,
Thanks for informing me about the shiny paint. I consulted some references and found some photos in which B&M E7s appeared very shiny when new but didn't find any such photos of the postwar 1948 B&M F3s.
MELGAR
For what it's worth, every, and I mean EVERY, locomotive that came out of the EMC/EMD paint shop at the McCook, Illinois plant, was "shiny". There was really no other way to spray those lacquer paints of those days, and the men took great pride in their paint jobs.