I'm working on a three projects that involve B&O's blue and gray paint scheme. What I'm looking for is (shriek) paint codes, either original or more recent formulations. I have an older PPG code for the Bando Blue that may be reformulated and a DuPont Centari number for the gray that may be harder to to do. I have nothing on the imitation gold for the lettering. I've exhausted all my usual resources for any info. Any of you fine folks have any data whatsoever, current or not, that may be of use?

Thanks in advance,

The following B&O paint codes are from copies of old EMD painting guides for B&O locomotives that I had the chance to see way back in 1981. The EMD guides showed Duco as the DuPont paint type used and listed both the DuPont and EMD code for each color.

I went to my local DuPont paint dealer and wanted to know if the old Duco color codes could be made with current paints. After checking with DuPont HQ, the dealer came back and said DuPont had confirmed all the Duco codes and gave the dealer DuPont's current matching DuIux codes (about 10+ years ago now). I had a quart of each color made and the colors are just beautiful - each a perfect match.

Here are the DuPont (Dulux and Duco), EMD and B&O codes for each color:

Bando Blue / DuPont: Dulux / 5370 D
Gray / DuPont: Dulux / 53716 D
Imitation Gold / DuPont: Dulux / 5454292 D

Bando Blue / DuPont: Duco / 254-35155
Gray / DuPont: Duco / 254-53716
Imitation Gold / DuPont: Duco / 254-54292

Bando Blue / GM - EMD # / 8106284
Gray / GM - EMD # / 8106280
Imitation Gold / GM - EMD # / 8106248

Bando Blue / B&O's own in house stock # / P-51
Gray / B&O's own in house stock # / P-253
Imitation Gold / B&O's own in house stock # / P-121

Also, the colors would be correct for B&O passenger cars. The Bando Blue would be correct for the P-7 Class Pacifics during the 1940s and 50s and the Imitation Gold would be correct for all lettering on all B&O steam engines. The Bando Blue and Imitation Gold colors would have been used up to and including B&O's order for the EMD GP-30. After that, C&O's blue and yellow would have been used on new orders as C&O took control of B&O.

Hope all that helps!

B&Ofan,
Many thanks. That info should get me further along. My fingers are crossed and I'm hoping to sand down to suitable paint layers to help tweak the mix.

Couple questions.... When your supplier mixed the quarts, do you recall if they supplied new codes and what line of paint it was?

Thanks.

Something like this? That particular color of "imitation gold" was used across several carriers at the time. We worked with the late George Rust of DuPont to get this color matched into current (at the time) formulations. It was also used by the Wabash for their lettering on cars and diesel locos. Our supplier is Kelly Industrial Coatings of Waukesha, Wisconsin. I expect at this point, we would have to supply them with our drift card of this color for them to reformulate into the current standard Axalta product.

Kent

Kent,

Thanks for the info. Though the Dulux Bando Blue code above turns out to be the same as the Wabash Blue code on my list, something I didn't realize, the B&O imitation gold numbers don't compare or cross with anything else I have. That might explain my difficulty in pinning it down. I'll add it to my list, though. Roughly what year was this mixed?

Thanks.

The original matching was done in the early '90's. The can in the photo is probably from 2012 or so. We maintain a drift cards back to that original match so we can recreate the color in whatever system we're using.

Kent

I try to make a point of mentioning to make your own drift cards with the primer and top coat and put the date and paint info on the back. Automotive paint suppliers should have what I call paddle cards (kinda look like a small rectangular ping pong paddle) that are made for color matching samples.

Kent,

I must need a new pair of glasses. Duh. Your Imron number for the imitation gold is a match to what I'm looking for. Now to see if I can get some kind of cross to Axalta, PPG, etc.

Thanks.