Mike T just posted on Facebook that the spring rigging is in. Plan now is to tow the chassis around alittle bit check some clearance and make a few adjustments.

Latest updates: The chassis and cab are in the paint booth getting a fresh coat of.............................................................................................................................Olive Drab green paint! YES, you read this right! Steamtown received the original delivery info and the engine was painted Olive Drab green. I'm not sure what the rest will be painted but I think the tender may be painted the same! It looks like once she is painted the boiler will be mated back to the chassis!

Isn't it a little early for April Fool's day?

No joke. It looks like all Baldwins were factory spec O.D. Green. Most railroads ordered them in black. #26 never left the factory, soo......................

Indeed. . .

Had this up once before, might be worth a look again:

http://loggingmallets.railfan.net/sub/p ... finish.htm

Source:

http://loggingmallets.railfan.net/

The tender has been painted black with white lettering and has look great for some time now. No one is painting that over!

Well, if they're going to the trouble of painting the engine green, considering Steamtown's policy on accuracy, I can assure you the tender will also be painted green.

Research show that while a switcher at the Baldwin works, the locomotive was green. the fact that it has been painted black while in preservation does not mean it was (while Baldwin Locomotive Works No 26)

The research to support the repainting in olive green came from Jim Wilke and Jon Davis, who are currently working on the paint specifications for Glenbrook, a Baldwin narrow gauge 2-6-0, being restored to operation by the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

The specifications are based on Baldwin records... the locomotive's specifications sheets, the Baldwin Paint books at Stanford, and samples of original paint found on various engines. If I understand the plan, they are not striping the wheels, as they were when the locomotive was built, but are leaving them sans stipe as they would have appeared later.

Many if not most locomotives built at the turn of the century were green. This one is little modified from her as built appearance, and is being presented as Baldwin 26, a locomotive which was painted green. Black paint comes later, after she leaves Baldwin...

Randy

By the way, not "Olive Drab" but "Olive" or "Dark Olive" or in this case, "Olive Green". This is a dark green, but not as dark as Brunswick green. I suspect it you were not told, indoors, it will appear black, but outside, in sun, it will be green.

Dark Olive was commonly (but not always) mated with aluminum striping.

Randy

Looking forward to seeing it (or at least photos) in green. The Pacific Locomotive Association's Clover Valley #4 (2-6-6-2t) was delivered in green with aluminum stripes, but is currently being painted into a later, black appearance.

Black and white photography can be deceiving. I believe a lot of dark-grey looking builder's photos were of engines that were painted green. Some have claimed that builder's intentionally painted locomotives in a flat grey color for builder's photos, but I find it hard to believe the expense and effort would be justified. Can anyone substantiate this claim with evidence?

A related and possibly apocryphal anecdote... back in the 1930s, some American modernist architects were inspired by the published images of European architects such as Le Corbusier. They emulated what they saw and painted their designs white, but the black and white photos failed to show the subtle, but important use of color on the actual buildings. A lot of people still mistakenly believe that "modern style" buildings only come in white.

For what it is worth, the railroad history community owes a debt of appreciation to Jim Wilkie and a very small cadre of folks who have extensively researched early and mid steam era paint schemes. I have never met Mr. Wilkie in person, but he is a preservationist I hold in the highest esteem for bringing an incredible amount of information to light and sharing it.

Thanks to these gents we know that steam locomotives were a more colorful group of machines than we might have imagined.

Their work underscores how many locomotoves currently restored in black may actually have worn other colors when new, an how few are restored this way. The Greenfield Vilage team has worked out the colors for their 4-4-0. Now Steamtown is doing it. Perhaps more museums with older locos will do a deep dive into painting diagrams and research by folks like Mr. Wilkie.

I applaud Steamtown for doing #26 right. There was a big uproar back when their IC 2-8-0 was repainted in a fashion not historically correct, so I am sure there will be an equally loud roar of approval for them making the effort to get #26 right.

Randy, thanks for the info. Also sorry about the Olive Drab, that's the military in me! LOL. I was talking to the shop crew and I think the rest of the engine is going to be painted to spec. I got the info but I'm not 100% on if they are going to do it. If they do it's going to look interesting and I think unique! I will wait until she is done to say if I like it.

Here is the layout of colors, according to Baldwin.

Don't panic. We won't be changing the the wheel arrangement to match the drawing.

P.S. I didn't realize the image would be so small. When I find a larger version, I will update the post.

While it does sound unlikely that the locomotive builders would go through expense of painting one side a locomotive grey just for the sake of a photograph, that is indeed what they did.

This effort was expended due to the need that the official builders portrait be not just a pretty picture souvenir but comprise an official record of the company product. As such it was also used in advertising and it had to look as prefect as possible.

In some ways, photography as not changed much at all. It is all about light, exposure and contrast. So in order to show off the details of the locomotive, one side was painted grey to reduce contrast so that all details of construction could be seen. Since this was to be the finest image possible, striping and lettering was also applied. Shiny black paint in high sun would be worthless since so much of the loco would be in shadow and the highlights distracting to the eye.

ALCo and Lima shot the engineer side, Baldwin the fireman's side generally.

The photographer would also want and probably waited for a cloudy day to reduce contrast as much a possible. Grey boards would be set up behind the loco to that the wheels would silhouette. This would also aid in the inking of the negative so that all background detail could be removed if that was the style like at Lima. Obviously after the photograph was approved, the paint crew then repainted the loco.

I remain skeptical. This is exactly the explanation I've heard before, but it is presented without evidence. You may very well be correct, but I needing something that goes beyond hearsay or even secondary sources.

I know enough about photography to know that you could achieve all of the desired effects through lighting and exposure. It is not hard to make something black look grey if it's against a background that has been painted out on the negative, and if you can do that, why pay a crew to paint an engine twice, especially in a one-off order? I continue to believe that grey-looking engines were either the result of technique or green paint. I do believe they painted the tires with wider stripes for the photos, but that is a lot less work.

I could be wrong. I am willing to admit that, but just because something is commonly believed to be true doesn't make it so. I have seen speculation turn into a truthy "fact" too often.

CV 4, Collection of Martin Hansen

So here is a builder's photo from March 1924. The engine looks flat grey, but is it? The records show it was delivered in Green with Aluminum striping. What are those strange diagonal stripes on the tank? Could they be reflections in glossy paint?
Colorized