Thanks for the compliments
Thanks for the compliments about the attractive landscape. Making the trains look like they are in a proper scenic setting was very important to me as the Midwest Central developed from only pencil marks on paper to a finished railroad..
You have made multiple valid points in your posting, but you may have over estimated the caliber of the railroad executives that have been involved with the Badland railroad, (now owned by the Midwest Central). You see, in a magazine article it is easy to convey to the reader actual photographs of what was built. What is more difficult to convey in a few pages, is 75+ years of life and reading magazines and visiting hundreds of other model railroads that developed ideas that became a part of the Midwest Central.
Only a tiny bit of this railroads history has been told in this article. As you saw by your careful reading about the history of the Midwest Central railroad, the Badland Railroad was near default on all it’s obligations. They could not even borrow a dollar if they put up a two dollar bill as collateral! Partly this was due to the forward looking faction of some individuals in management but they had no regard about paying for the bills they accumulated.
Now, for the case in point; the painting of the locomotive you mention. The Badland Railroad always kept watch for any equipment that they thought would now or later be needed. Many times they would see something that was available and they would buy it since they could need it later and not be able to find any that were for sale. Have you ever done that yourself?
Well, they came across this locomotive that was almost new but fire had damaged the exterior a bit, but they were able to get a good deal on the purchase. This locomotive was not needed as the railroad already had several serviceable locomotives on the roster, but a good deal is a good deal; right? The locomotive was purchased and the reason it was purchased was because they thought they needed another locomotive.
The locomotive was sent to the shop with instructions to get the locomotive operational and then send it to the paint shop so they could paint the locomotive a solid red, matching other red locomotives on the fleet.
Well, the railroad did not have any red paint and all suppliers refused to sell the Badland anything else until they got their account paid. So, a new order went to the paint shop instructing them to paint it "Some Color". Well, the shop had an abundance of a yellow paint, but not enough to paint the entire locomotive, as well as several 5 gallon pails ranging from partly full to almost full; in various colors. They blended these various dabs of paint and the results are the orange you see today. The black strip you see was at the insistence of another who contributed a lot to this layout. Once the loco was finished, business was so bad that it saw very little use and did not get much soiling like it would have had the railroad really needed another locomotive. This mix never became a paint "Scheme". It simply was painted with the paints that were available at the time since until the debts were paid; there were no more funds available.
I find your comment about fonts used on the Midwest Central to be of great interest. How well your comments will fit once you understand the history of this area of the United States is another matter. You see, Mr Shakey, of Shakey Chair fame, was a very influential man in these parts and he also was a part owner in the Midwest Central railroad. He had a grand daughter, Waneta was her name. You see, she was attending Indiana University and her major was in graphic design. Well, she wanted to design the ‘new’ scheme for the Midwest Central railroad and she set out to create a design and style that grandpa Shakey would like. Back to the history of this endeavor; the Midwest Central was a money making machine.
Now you tell all of us that the ‘font’ she used is called Helvetica and that font was not around until 1957. Now you are going to learn what got these folks so riled in this part of the country. As she began it was not her intention to use something everybody else used so she created her own style of lettering just for this locomotive scheme. Now, if she had known copy right law as well as she knew how to draw, that font might just be called "The Waneta Font! It appears her talent was a bit ahead of its time.
This railroad represents the combination of three railroads and each railroad had its own way of doing things. Two of the three did not have the money to do things according to the logic of the remaining world. They were buying whatever equipment they could use, mostly used. Often times, a new acquisition would simply have the old name painted out and their name quickly applied. They always planned to develop standards and repaint everything sometime in the future. But, when you are head over heals in debt, you don’t always get your desires met.
Badland had its own ideas on how to run a railroad.
The Upland & Divide also had ideas on how to meet the needs of their customers.
When those two merged, they became the Badland and Upland & Divide. Their finances were so bad they decided to shorten the name to the Budlines, just to save paint!
Finally, lets not loose sight that this is a hobby and there are thousands of ways to enjoy it. Mine has a specific history and that history shows in the variations in paint schemes. This article did not include any of the Budlines locomotives although one freight car shows in photo 7..
Don’t forget that building a model railroad is a hobby and always, always, always remember to have fun when you play trains! As to the comment about the white being distracting, you need to take that up with Waneta and her Grandpa. Waneta agreed, more or less, with you but Grandpa claimed that a few weeks in coal country and the entire locomotive paint scheme would be softened anyway. "We will not buy more paint when we can just use the white paint we have on hand", and with that Grandpa settled the matter.
Thanks so much for your comments.
