Unusual Milwaukee Road Paint Scheme

Interesting & different.

Sorry Brian I can't get into that paint scheme.

Is he saying there was a bi-Polar with this scheme?  

Interesting.

The fact that it's on a Baldwin Centipede is interesting enough.....I really like this! Whoever did this really is a great artist! 

Very nice, much better looking than the few locos in actual paint schemes.

Spence, it is different, but not my personal taste either. Harry's client specifically asked for this. I posted this as I had not seen this before and I bet most Forum members had not as well. I found it to be "interesting".

 

Forrest, yes it was used on the Bi-Polar. I found a picture of it.

 

Stirling, it is the work of Harry Heike who is certainly one of the best artists we have in our hobby. He does structures, weathering, and custom painting.

Very interesting locomotive and different.  I always like seeing something different.  Thanks for sharing, Brian.

PTC,

 

I like it! The scheme actually 'fits' the locomotive very nicely! Mr. Heike has done another beautiful job.

PTC,

Brian, you're so correct about it being "interesting" and different. One thing is certain, Harry's client does own a one of a kind piece. Many of us know and can relate to that special feeling.

I like it. It's sharp looking. 

The Juice Jacks had quite a few paint schemes... is this the paint scheme Henry is referring to?

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite is still the one below:

 

 

 

 

"Forrest, yes it was used on the Bi-Polar. I found a picture of it."

 

is it one of the ones above?  would like to see what you found.

John, your third & fourth images. That answers Forrest question as well. Remember, the engines are totally different, so he had to interpret what would work on the engine he was given to convert.

I'm not big on fantasy paint jobs, but I sure like the looks of it.

Color prototype photos of that engine are not easy to find. The best I could do was this one, from Volume 5 of the Morning Sun series, The Milwaukee Road in Color. E-1 was painted in January 1949, the first Bi-Polar to get a color paint job. The other four were painted later that year in the better-known scheme with the bright-silver nose insert, which was introduced at the Chicago World's Fair in June 1949. Richart painted at least one tinplate Bi-Polar in this color scheme. I don't know if it was a regular production item or one of the many one-off custom jobs Richart did. 

 

I'll sign on to it being a good adaptation of the early bi-polar scheme for a fantasy diesel locomotive.

 

Rusty

The irony in the Centipede paint job being adapted from the Bi-Polar paint scheme is that the Bi-Polar scheme was designed in conjunction with the paint scheme used on the Milwaukee's second order of Fairbanks Morse Erie-Built diesels. This is not to take anything away from the beautiful work done by the painter, just to show how things get changed around when they are adapted. It reminds me of the old kids' game "Telephone," where the kids sit in a circle and whisper a story, each one to the next. By the time it gets around the circle, it's very different from how it started. The paint job on the Centipede echoes EP-1 much more closely than does the Erie Built.

 

I wonder how that paint scheme, or something adapted from it, would look on an AEM-7 "toaster." I have one of the Atlas AEM-7 kits, which I plan to paint in regular Milwaukee Hiawatha colors, but now I'm thinking of trying something based on EP-1. 

 

Here's the paint scheme from the Milwaukee's second batch of Erie Builts. The first batch had the shiny nose piece, which was copied in the paintwork on the other four Bi-Polars.

Over the years I have purchased several club cars. Check out their web page.

http://www.milw-lrrc.com/shopping/

  Click to enlarge......

One of the cars that is for sale on the MLRRC site that Gary mentions is, in a way, relevant to this discussion, in that it is a "fantasy" paint scheme originating with the real railroad. The "Big M" boxcar is a design that was done by Milwaukee Road management shortly before the Milwaukee was bought by the Soo Line. It was a completed, approved design, but it never made it onto an actual railroad car. Unfortunately, MLRRC elected to put this design on a traditional size double-door boxcar rather than a scale size car, but it's still pretty cool looking. Maybe MLRRC will do the design again, but on a scale size car. I'm going to suggest it to them.  

Wow!

That paint job may have worked on the Bi-Polar (not really, LOL) but for the Centipede I would have used the original scheme from the Milwaukee E-7's. It's appropriate for the time frame (late 40's) in which Centipedes would have been delivered to the RR, had they decided to buy some. 

 

It is obvious from this thread that there are a lot of Milwaukee Road fans among the Forum members. Thanks to all of you who responded to this thread.

 

Elizabeth and I are fans as well, so when Harry told me about this unusual paint job, I wanted to see what he came up with. Looks like a lot of you enjoyed it as well.

I really perked up when I saw Milwaukee Road.  I am amazed at the variety that the Milwaukee had from custom cars and engines to paint jobs.  It was the railroad that ran through my home town as a boy, but we were in Iowa and didn't see any electric  engines.

 

Art

I figured this would peak your interest, Art.

The MILW ran within maybe 1/4 mile from where my back door is now. It was the joint MILW/UP line out to Aberdeen, WA and it crossed the NP very close to the house. The diamond is long gone now, though.

Most train fans out this way have a soft spot for the MILW because the traces of it are everywhere. The electrics were used just North of here and many of the Little Joes were scrapped a few miles south of our house.

I've seen the Bi-Polar at St Louis but hope to see the boxcab at Harlowton and the Little Joe at Deer Lodge someday.

Two tourist RRs run on old MILW tracks around here (The Mt Rainier Scenic and the Chehalis Steam operation) and the old 'main' line to Chehalis runs not too far from our place. I see it every day going to work as it parallels I-5 for a portion of the trip.

I grew up in the deep south, so I didn't even know the MILW went this far west when it was still running. I think I was 10 when they shut it down for good.