Blue Engines

[NW Mailing List]

Carl

N&W announced in the March 1966 N&W Magazine with a front cover photo, depicting No. 2704 and passenger car No. 1723 in the new N&W No. 23 blue and gold scheme.

The caption reads:

"FRONT COVER of this issue shows two units of Norfolk and Western equipment which have been painted in our new standard colors for locomotives, passenger cars and "head end cars­ N&W No. 23 acrylic blue enamel and gold. The colors are highly pleasing to the eye and give our equipment an attractive and lively appearance. 
N &W equipmenl is being repainted with the new colors as it goes through our shops for repairs. So far, twelve locomotives and eight passenger equip­ment cars have been repainted. Two passenger locomotives, seven freight locomotives, one passenger coach and seven head end cars have been repainted at Roanoke Shops, and three freight locomotives have been repainted at our shops at Decatur, Ill. "

The blue scheme came from the President Herman Pevler, hence the name “Pevler Blue”, but the blue chosen by the N&W is not the same as the Wabash blue, it is indeed darker, as was stated in some internal correspondence the Wabash blue was “about two shades lighter” than No. 23 blue. 

The blue paint was not a success, as painting methods for preparation work, particularly on the western end of the system resulted in poor cleaning and adhesion of the new paint, allowing in a fairly short time from the paint to come off, and reveal the older schemes below. With the poorer paint technology combined with poor prep work, the blue paint began to fade almost immediately, and washed out from a very dark blue to a badly weathered, faded blue.

The paint, for the most part, has been difficult to match today, as paint formulations changed dramatically 10-15 years ago, and the old formula of blue results in a dark brown paint today. The Archives did not have what are called color drift cards for the No.23 blue. Drift cards are factory made color samples to be used to test match the actual color as applied. 

The No. 23 blue is difficult to match on a model, as your indoor lighting does not represent it correctly and the reasons of scale, it will appear much too dark if using actual color.

The color is being correctly matched today, and will or has been applied to recently donated SD-40 No. 1580, which will make its premier sometime later this year. 

Best
Ken Miller

> On Sep 8, 2024, at 1:09 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello – When did the N&W paint their locos blue?
> 
> Carl Barna
> Emmaus, PA
> 
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/