I have the Monogram Big Boy locomotive.
After looking through several books on the subject, I have noticed different paint schemes.
What are the official colors used and their equivalent in today’s paint colors?
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Here are a few related threads with some info…
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50595.0
https://modelrailroadforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/revell-big-boy-paint.8649/
https://forum.trains.com/t/a-big-boy-color-question/166667/5
H.P.
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My wife and I took these videos in October of 2024. The front portion looks to be painted flat aluminum. That’s what they did on my Rivarossi.
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UP painted the smoke boxes with a mixture of graphite and oil. The silver is not correct. The graphite makes sure helped protect it from the high temperatures that would have burned off any paint. UP did not jacket the smoke box.
From what I’ve read, the graphite was a medium metallic gray. I don’t know what kind of oil they used but that may have changed how it looked, plus the soot mixed into it and all the other weathering from the road. The graphite paste wore away quickly and was frequently reapplied. Weather frequently means weeks or years, I don’t know.
I read that they also experimented with a heat resistant color that was a red. How red I don’t know. Apparently it is not a successful experiment.
Otherwise, UP engines were overall black, except for a few specialized ones for passenger service. I’m not aware of any special paint jobs they put on freight locomotives.
So the silver smoke box that Rivarossi put out is inaccurate. So are the black smoke boxes on some of these static display locomotives.
I’ve also read that some railroads mixed aluminum powder into the graphite slurry. That made it lighter/brighter in color when it was fresh. But I can’t find any evidence of that practice with Union Pacific.
I was thinking flat black for the main boiler, NATO black faded on top and flat metallic gray for the front and firebox. Then weather as needed for the general colors
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I believe that you will capture it to perfection.
And you may get to see her live depending on where you live.
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Greg, no doubt you’ve already seen this. Sorry about the photo quality. It was in the 2002 when I was at the museum to ride the farewell excursion of Frisco 1522. I had a borrowed film camera.
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