Also seen at the ESNG show this year was Eric the roundhouse full of my American locomotives.  We’ve had Eric full of (UK) Southern Railway Pacific’s, and full of Taurus electric’s.  But this year, it was full of REAL locomotives – mainly Alco’s and mainly Lehigh Valley.  There was even a GG1 electric that must have been towed in from somewhere.

One interesting observation on this line-up of super-power was the different interpretations of Lehigh Valley red by different, and sometimes the same, manufacturers.  Early Lehigh red is a difficult shade to define.  The later red was a bright scarlet colour, but the red the first generation diesels were painted is a sort of medium red with a slight pinkish hue.  There is a commercial paint available, but it is too dark, probably being mixed from the original specification, rather than adapted, with a lighter tone, for small models.

The models below range from a dark pink to a full maroon – and none of them look quite right.  However, photographs show as big a range of colour, even allowing for the inaccuracies and degradation of early colour film.  My own view is that I ought to choose one shade and repaint all these models to that one mix.  It may not be right, but at least it will be consistent.  Or maybe one shade, with varying amounts of white added for different models, to give a more realistic range of colours like the prototype?

Again, photos below and more on the ESNG club web site.