B&O Gray - what shade?

c.sam I don't know for sure as my K-Line F3's are only slightly lighter than the the pictures you have posted.  Jim R

Have you tried the B&O Historical Society?

Sam I had a friend that used Testers gull gray, it seemed to work. I remember it was not that light of a color that the shark in the back round has, However the ones I remember they were very dirty. I believe the MTH version seems great to me.

John

c.sam try tru-color paint they have the B&O gray and blue as well as the correct color for freight cars. good stuff!!

Sam,

Many of us who model the B&O favor Scalecoat B&O colors. In real life, the gray often faded to a light shade whereas many of us think it actually had a slightly greenish tint to it when freshly painted, somewhat like the FA diesel in your photos.

As far as pilot colors, freight pilots were black whereas passenger pilots were gray with horizontal blue stripes. The only non black trucks I ever saw on cab units were in builders' photos - not in service.

I have a good bit of B&O passenger equipment and the blue and gray colors vary by piece which does not bother me in the least. I very much like the shading of the Golden Gate B&O Columbian which uses slightly different colors than the GGD heavyweight B&O passenger equipment.

One solution for you would be to get rid of your diesels and change to all black steam power (with the exception of the Sunset /3rd Rail P-7e which is blue).

R. Heil

B&O Historical Society member

Sam, my first Sharks were my Legacy B&O set, and when I bought a WBB B unit to go with them, I repainted its slightly different gray to match the Lionel.  I'd probably prefer a darker gray on all of them, but I love these as they are now.  

Of course, in the real world, color on loco units probably varied.  Paint fades, etc.  I recall it bothered me to no end as a child that the A-B-B-A Santa Fe F3s Id' see where visibly different tones of red and silver sheen.  I would think a darker gray would chalk out and fade pretty fast, too, and be noticeable lighter in only a few years.