N&W Blue

[NW Mailing List]

Bill is absolutely right. Since it all happened 45 years ago (and was little 
noted) a lot of fans are not aware of the unified paint scheme and numbering 
system that anticipated an N&W/C&O merger. The cabooses were the most complete 
example (stripes and all). I am sure that Pevler did not mind seeing blue 
replace black, but replacing red on cabooses was hardly a Wabash idea. One 
exception, however: before blue became the new standard, Roanoke was painting 
"Redbirds" blue for use on the ex-Wabash passenger trains. My (late) Uncle 
Campbell Scott reported seeing them go west by Tug Tower in the summer of 1965 
(before blue became standard).

Jim Nichols



________________________________
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org; nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Sent: Tue, March 15, 2011 5:58:18 PM
Subject: N&W Blue

While we have come to identify the transition to the blue paint scheme with the 
period of Herman Pevler's leadership, and hence have called it "Pevler Blue", 
with the implicit assumption that it came from the Wabash. I believe we give him 
too much credit.

When the C&O-B&O sought control of the Western Maryland in 1964, the N&W opposed 
the move and the lead N&W person was John Fishwick, then in N&W's law 
department. In "discussions" with C&O over the WM proposal, Mr. Fishwick 
proposed an alternative, that N&W and C&O-B&O combine (N&W would have been the 
surviving entity). The N&W-C&O merger discussions began in early 1965 and the 
parties were so certain of approval that they adopted a common blue paint scheme 
(and numbering system), blue being the Chessie color, which first appeared on 
new N&W diesels later in 1965. Alas, the Penn-Central disaster scuttled any 
further discussion of two strong coal roads combining and merger discussions 
ended. The blue scheme remained until Mr. Fishwick changed it back to black in 
1971 after he became CEO.

So perhaps in truth we have a "Fishwick Blue" and a "Fishwick Black". ;) 

As a postscript, the Pevler years left N&W in very difficult financial 
straights, which Mr. Fishwick set about correcting when he became CEO.

Bill McClure
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20110316/fc20eea6/attachment.htm>