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Not only do I live near a busy UP line carrying things going to and leaving the Southtown yard in St. Paul, but I also live near the grand central of a short-line local railroad, known as Progressive Rail (PGR).
I see their SW-1500s and road switchers all the time, and I'd like to model an engine or two as a way to tip my hat to them. I'm just not sure what colors would be the best match, aside from the obvious black for the trucks and underframe, and the white stripe work.
MRL blue looks close to me. Since you live close to the line, just paint some MRL blue on a piece of styrene and compare it to the real thing. Adjusting for paint fading, dependng on how long the engine has been on the road, you should be able to find out if it's a good match.
The cool thing is that they seem to be a very public operation. I know they've personally addressed some concerns from the neighborhoods around the lines. I don't doubt they'd let me grab a couple seconds to compare paint colors.
Or I could always stop by whichever loco is parked in Rosemount for the day. That would probably make less hassle for everyone.
Only trouble will be getting paint. Nearest hobby shop is two cities over. I may have another paint on hand to give me a good starting point though.
Another hint when it comes to finding that "perfect" color match.
Don't restrict yourself to RR colors! The next time your at the LHS look at all the military and automotive colors also.
Now the only problem seems to be in finding a SD38-2 or SD39 to use. SW1500's are all over the place, but I tend to like road switchers more than dedicated switching engines, although if it comes to it, I won't have any problems with modeling one of PGR's SW1500's.
Well I wish you the best on the decals. They are not as easy as people think. And making decals with white in them on a common ink jet/lazer jet printer is almost impossible. There are many threads here in the forums about that subject. Keep us posted on your progress.
There was a good article in MR awhile ago about Prog. Rail. Looks like a very interesting operation although the lack of a runaround track at the indy park that was written up in the article seems pretty unusual.
Correct. There is no runaround track in Lakeville, but it does not seem to make much problem for them, or else they would have built one by now. IIRC, there's a wye nearby.
