What color are VIA's P42 locomotives?

VIA was originally thinking of going with F59PHI's that would have been the most ridiculous looking VIA locomotive ever! Im glad someone came to there seances and took the deal for the GE P42's . I tried to imagine the F59 in renaissance scheme and no it just would not work, it even looks odd on the repainted F40. ( I like the original f40 paint scheme). and could you Imagine this super tall locomotive pulling LRC cars. what a odd sight that would be. or even pulling renaissance cars. even weirder. I believe the P42.s were the best choice at the time I just wish they would standardize the paint and stop making us wonder " what will it be today?" However I would like to see a totally new paint scheme (design). put on the F40s after the rebuild.

The paint scheme and the apparence after the rebuilt will be look like this


the Gap will be toked off(red "X")
and the cab will be longer (blue line and yellow "X")

they supposed to do that with all off the F40,probably,the 6437 will be the next one,Last september,I saw it with a great damages on the nose of the loco

Forgive me for bringing up an old topic, but I'm new to the forum and was browsing through the threads when I found this one about the paint on VIA P-42s. I have pictures of all the units shortly after delivery and they are all uniformly green, not blue. The reason that they are blue is because GE used crappy paint without UV protection, hence the fading of the green to blue. Some have been patched with a more or less matching colour to cover damaged spots and RUST. It looks as if GE did not even prime the units before painting.Only 917 has been repainted in almost the same green as original, just a tad brighter and the rebuilt F-40s are also being done in the new scheme. I hope that CAD rail is using a quality paint in finishing the rebuilds or the same thing could happen to them.

GE is notorious for cheap paint in my eyes, down here engines still painted in Conrail Blue seem to hold the blue better if its an EMD while the GE units are now a faded poweder blue.

Does this drawing help?

electricron wrote:Does this drawing help?

Not necessarily. What is the source of this drawing? While it may be reliable for the original colour (it does seem to line up okay with the 917 repaint colour as well), if you go and look around at current pictures of any loco but 917, it's very clear they are a brighter blue, and not that colour at all. I also question the fact that the drawing has the trucks and other underframe equipment (air tanks, battery boxes, etc) painted in the same green, when they are (and always have been) gray on the locomotives.

For example, here is a photo of 908, in 2008:


Compare that though, to a first photo of 908 in 2002:



The original colour does seem consistent enough with that drawing...the current colour though, not so much.

Still, the one image that shows it well is this: VIA 918 is in the current colour on most of the locos, and 917 has been repainted into what appears to be the original colour (consistent with that drawing, and a closer match to the paint on the new F40's):