That would imply that the 630 be painted in green due to being in passenger service?

Joe

Good enough for me.

which is all well and good until someone points out the elephant in the room, which is the SR Ps-2 4-6-2s on the Appalachia Division, which were in passenger service AND painted black. See how easy it is to muddy up the waters and be authentically correct at the same time???

Seriously though, the color of the 4501 should be the least of anyone's concern. It will be back in steam, on the mainline, and presumably--at least part of the time--without diesel assistance in 2014. That's a pretty astounding feat for this day and age. Why people get so worked up over the color of an engine is beyond me. NS and TVRM are footing the bill. Let them paint it however they want to, and the rest of us can enjoy seeing the grand lady under steam one more time.
Kevin

Very true, my post above was just an inquiry and I have to say 4501 is my favorite steam locomotive and I am THRILLED to see it in steam and running in whatever paint.

Truly, we will love her in any color and appreciate the hard work and resources that are going into this by TVRM and NS. Some of us are just nostalgic for the green of the old steam program, being too young to have seen regular steam passenger service. I'll grant that maybe the aluminum paint was a bit much so a nice light graphite & linseed oil smokebox will be better.

Steve

You could run it as it and I'd still ride behind it. Single beam headlight, double beam headlight, no headlight at all. I'm all for seeing it run. Who cares what color it is.

AT THIS POINT, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

Let me get this straight, 4501, during its current rebuild has gotten:

1. Lots of boiler and firebox repairs
2. Stoker
3. Feedwater heater and pump
4. New non-lifting injectors
5. Improved roller bearing leading and trailing trucks
6. Improved springing on trailing trucks
7. modern 26L brakes
8. A new smokebox front

All of this amazing work (and more) and we are grousing about the color?

I apologize for any uproar I may have caused, I was not complaining, just simply inquiring about the color, I had no idea that Mr. Ray had commented about the colors on 630 and 4501 being done to exactly match Southern standards or I would not have made the post. I concur with Mr. Wilkins that the work done is amazing and that I am excited to see her in steam, IN BLACK. Sorry for any problem I may have caused, and I for sure will be riding behind 4501 at some point this year.

I'm doing a bit of instigating on the color controversy here, but prior to 1926 Southern passenger power was black, but with similar striping to the green paint scheme. Plus, there were a number of 4900 series 2-8-2's that were equipped with signal lines and steam heat fittings for use as reserve passenger power, but painted in "freight" colors. Personally, I don't care what color she is painted, that's up to whoever's buying the paint.

Paint, shmaint, John Craft at Steam Central got it right:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VkrUG3OrPc

What color goes on the cab roof for either black or green paint jobs?

Steve

Oh my, watch out for the bombs. . .

Officially, from what I recall, it's normally the color of the locomotive (green or black). However, many model enthusiasts have either interpreted black and white photos, or are copying what SR did at least some times with the 4501 in excursion service, and paint the cab roof oxide red to match the top of the tender.

A lot of times the cab roof on a green locomotive was black, and it looked like it was painted that way, but it wasn't; it was just soot.

Southern had such good looking power, I don't think it should matter too much!

Now for fun, what we should do is bring up (a) the variations in painting on different divisions and out of different shops (the black 4-6-2s on certain routes have been mentioned in one example, there were also differences in striping), (b) certain hardware changes (different handrail arrangements, tender collars, and so on), and (c) individual touches by the engineers and firemen in the days of assigned locomotives (eagles over headlights, an illuminated sign with Bible verses on at least one 4-8-2 where the number plate would be, an engineer's name of the valve gear hanger of a Ps-4). Now, if you want to start arguments. . .

Running back into hiding for even bringing up paint again. . .

This has decayed into a railfanning topic and is therefore moved. You may continue your color arguments at will.

That's the part I don't understand, with 4501's red roof and DPM describing Ps-4's that way in his book. Could this be something that varied with the shop the engine was assigned to like the particular shade of graphite and certain hand rail arrangements?

Steve