A bunch of questions about modern CN
#4
CN LOCOMOTIVE PAINT SCHEMES

NOTICE:   I have  edited cn nutbar's post to remove extraneous material and/or clarify the information.


CN switched from it's traditional green-and-yellow diesel paint scheme to black white and orange with the introduction of the CN "wet noodle" in 1960. I think the stripes started at the same time, but it might not have been added until later in the 60's??

The diagonal black and light gray (not silver) stripes were applied to the cab units with the introduction of the noodle herald, around 1961/1962.  That lasted as long as CN owned cab units, although the rebuilt F7s had a different variation.

EDIT: The stripes referred to, above, are those on cab-unit diesels - F-units/FP-units/FA- and FPA-units, C-Liners, etc., etc.  These were all units in passenger service.


The application of diagonal stripes to roadswitchers began with the first safety cab units, GP38-2 and M420s, about 1973.  The CN North America scheme (with map) replaced it in 1992.  The map did not last long but I have no date for when it was discontinued.  The map, even when new, looked like peeling paint from some angles.
You can find units today that have not visited the paint shop since 1992, so CN is still using the scheme.  Some of them look really ratty of course.

The reply above is right on the money. While the CN logo dates to 1961, the original paint scheme was all black with red ends and the logo on the side. The striped paint scheme was applied on road units during the 1970s and 1980s.
The map logo scheme (CN North America) was used from about 1993-1995 only. (There are still units out there in that scheme, but it was only applied during those years.) The scheme was modified by simply dropping the map from behind the logo. The scheme was further modified much more recently by adding the www.cn.ca website under the logo.

Note also, that while stripes were applied to F-units starting from the introduction of the new logo in 1961, the angle was different (30 degrees), and the stripes leaned towards the rear on both sides. The separation between the red-orange of the nose and the black of the body was at an angle matching the stripes.
In the 1970s version of the stripes, the stripes are at 45 degree angles and slant in the same direction on both sides (downwards from left to right). The separation between the red and the black was a vertical line, and the entire cab was red.
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Messages In This Thread
A bunch of questions about modern CN - by testone - 09-19-2020, 06:50 AM
RE: A bunch of questions about modern CN - by doctorwayne - 10-12-2020, 11:45 AM

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