Blue Dip F7A

Was 4266 the only B&M F7A to receive the Blue Dip paint scheme? I have been browsing around, and poking through a book or two, and cannot locate pictures of the other two F7A survivors (4265, 4268) in Blue Dip. Are there any pictures of 4266 floating around that were taken sooner after it was painted this scheme... seems like the handful that I can find are from toward the end of it's career.

Edit: It occurred to me, after doing some more looking, that there might have been two or more variations of the Blue Dip scheme. I saw one with no white stripe and what appeared to be very faded BM heralds on the second panel of each side and the road number in white towards the rear of the locomotive and one with a white stripe on the bottom and the numbers further forward on the locomotive (it looks like someone modeled this scheme for 4265, so maybe it was blue at one point). With that new info I have another question... which blue scheme came first and did all 3 get both or one or none?

4265 and 4268 was blue dipped. http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=2617890
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=2549759

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=2007344
4265 actually still has its blue dip nose door

Ah... I hadnt seen those pictures... thank you. I notice that 4268 and 4266 had similar paint jobs and 4265 has the white stripe and road numbers centered on the sides. Does anyone know if all three ever wore the same Blue Dip scheme at the same time?

No, all three were differant. 4268 was painted in 1968 with a black roof and proper fitting white heralds on the sides and nose door. The 4266 was painted next, in 1969 by some moron who couldn't tell the differance between the differant sizes of BM decals in stock in the paint shop. On the sides, he put the standard boxcar heralds which were too big and on the nose, he put an experimental caboose herald which was way to small. The 4266 was a true "blue-dip", as the entire carbody was painted blue, later, when the paint had faded and the decals peeled off, someone at B.E.T. took pity on the old girl, and stuck a blue and white Buddcar decal on the nose. Lastly, 4265 was painted in 1972 with an all blue carbody and white sill stripe with large numerals on the sides and a proper fitting nose emblem. The reason 4265 has maroon paint and a blue nose door, is when it was owned by the Syracuse Chapter of the NRHS, they re-painted it in the classic maroon and yellow, but had a false nose door complete with minuteman emblem and the original number plate which was donated by me, the false panel was removable so that the number plate wouldn't be stolen when there was nobody from the NRHS staff around to protect it.

Awesome information. Thank you for filling in the gaps. You dont happen to have pictures of 4268 and 4266 with fresh paint on them do you? Most of what I have found is old and weary paint with extremely faded decals.

Yes I do, I'll scan them this weekend.

As promised, here's photos from my collection of 4265-4266-4268 fresh from the shops in their new blue paint jobs. 4265 was taken on May 5th,1972 by Wayne Hills, 4266 was taken Aug.31st,1969 by Gary Webster, and 4268 was taken in 1968 by Jim Ickes.

Great photos! Thanks for posting them, Mr. Hutchinson. '65 and '68 look real sharp; '66 looks a bit goofy, but at least the paint is shiny.

I'm assuming the term "blue dip" a recent invention? The only nickname I've ever heard related to that paint scheme was "bluebird", and believe that was associated with the 300-series units.

No, actually, "Bluebird" was the nickname given to our new GP-9's in 1957, the name was popular among train crews.

As MEC407 already stated, thank you the photos. They certainly arent Minute Man beautiful but they are classic B&M and certainly nicer than Guiilford Gray.

I'm assuming the term "blue dip" a recent invention?

I don't remember when I first heard it, but it was decades ago, not recently. Probably in the early 1970s period when solid blue was the B&M's standard paint job. And as Mr. Hutchinson notes, the "Bluebirds" nickname was coined for the GP9s when they arrived in 1957 the then-new blue/black/white color scheme, which BTW was the creation of the same industrial designer who produced the New Haven's red/black/white around the same time.

The D&H solid blue scheme was also called "blue dip" from almost the day they appeared, in the 80s.

One could probobly go through the notes in X2200S of the period and and locate a first appearance of the term.

"And as Mr. Hutchinson notes, the "Bluebirds" nickname was coined for the GP9s when they arrived in 1957 the then-new blue/black/white color scheme, which BTW was the creation of the same industrial designer who produced the New Haven's red/black/white around the same time."

I stand corrected on the bluebirds, thanks.

I thought I had read that it was actually Patrick McGinnis' wife that came up with those God-awful paint schemes in the 50s... I just googled it.. one article said it was McGinnis' wife that commissioned a Swiss-born design consultant to come up with the block NH logo.