# Lehigh Valley - Railroad of Many Colors



## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

I was running my new 44 tonner the other day. I put a few cabooses behind it and it dawned on me that the LVRR probably had more color schemes than any railroad I could think of. I have four LV diesels and each one has a different scheme (Cornell red with a yellow stripe, LV red with a yellow stripe, snowbird white and pre war switcher red, gray, black and yellow).

LV diesel colors I don’t have include early switcher black with white lettering, Cornell red with 3 black stripes, Tuscan, Cornell red with 4’ wide yellow stripe (used only on two locos), red, black and brushed aluminum (used only on Alco HH600 #105) and Yellow Jacket used on Alco C420s. That’s 10 color schemes (eight if you don’t count the schemes used on only a few locos).

LV rolling stock also had a variety of colors. I have box cars in green and in snowbird. I also have cabooses in cornel red and in green. And I have a caboose in the snowbird scheme on pre-order.

Can you think of any railroad that had more color schemes than Lehigh Valley? Norfolk Southern probably has more (if you count the one offs and heritage units), but less if you don’t count the one offs.


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## Guest (Feb 23, 2019)

I like them all, Bob.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Boy, now there's a RR that couldn't make up their mind on the paint scheme! You can get a lot of variety with only one road name, that's pretty neat.  PRR is pretty dull by comparison, I have a lot of dark green and tuscan locomotives and rolling stock.


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## Guest (Feb 23, 2019)

That is pretty cool, Bob. You can run only one railroad and still have lots of variety. 

To the best of my knowledge the Union Pacific is at the other end of the spectrum having only one paint scheme for diesels if you don't count the heritage engines. I'm not a UP fan so there may have been an oddball diesel but I've only seen UP diesels in their yellow, gray, silver paint.


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## Guest (Feb 24, 2019)

The Black Diamond was another Lehigh Valley paint scheme and one of my favorites.

Emile

View attachment 486692


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## Guest (Feb 24, 2019)

Terrific photo, Emile.


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## laz57 (Sep 19, 2015)

Way to go EMILE!!! Those colors remind me of my college alma mater, Mansfield State College here in Pa.:smilie_daumenpos:


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Interesting. Very interesting. Thank you for posting these photos. They are very clear and I really like comparing the paint schemes and all. 

And I love that Black Diamond - had to add that to my list of locos and need to have. Lovely!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Didn't LV have a Blue/yellow paint scheme on a few of their diesels too?
Or was it blueish gray and yellow?


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Big Ed said:


> Didn't LV have a Blue/yellow paint scheme on a few of their diesels too?
> Or was it blueish gray and yellow?


Sounds like the yellow jacket paint scheme used on Alco C420s.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

The Lehigh Valley John Wilkes in Allentown, Pa. around 1940


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

Cole; that is a sharp looking train. :thumbsup:


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

In the two years since I posted this, I added a snowbird C628 dummy, an RS-11 and a wide yellow stripe GP9 to my LV diesel roster for a total of seven. No two of the seven have the exact same paint although a few are close. The dummy C628 has a larger flag than the powered unit and the Cornel red RS-11 has different letter size than the Cornel red GP38. GP9 301 had four different paint schemes in it’s 17 years at LV.


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## Krieglok (Sep 7, 2013)

Bob, I confused you with Pete on another post. My apologies to both of you.

Anyway, were you looking for the MTH LV GP9 #300? I found a dealer who has one in stock. It is the Premier PS3, 20-20865-1


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Thanks for thinking of me Tom, but I wasn’t looking for the 300. It would be kind of neat to have both the LV GP9s, but since I have a GP38 with the same scheme and an RS11 that’s very close, I don’t think I’ll go for it. If I find a yellow jacket C420 or a switcher with black stripes I might pick it up.


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