12-11-2011, 09:48 AM
As a Los Angeles resident and LAJ fan, I would say that the color was black. You can search a number of photo sites like Fallen Flags and rrpicturarchives and get a fair number of color photos of the LAJ Alcos, the overwhelming number of which will show black. The white/silver was probably silver at first, as on actual Santa Fe zebra locos, but weathered to white after a period of years, so showed white in photos. You can take your choice! Later LAJ Alco photos show other Santa Fe type modifications, like extended exhaust stack and cab window awnings, which suggests that the LAJ generally followed Santa Fe practice. However, the zebra stripes were of a different thickness and spacing than Santa Fe.
There was a very similar operation at the other end of the Santa Fe, the Illinois Northern in Chicago. After the late 1940s, it was owned by the Santa Fe and had Alcos lettered for IN a la LAJ, but the pattern was in this case the same as Santa Fe zebra striping. I'm thinking hard about getting a Bachmann S4 and changing the lettering to Illinois Northern -- slightly easier than doing LAJ.
There was a very similar operation at the other end of the Santa Fe, the Illinois Northern in Chicago. After the late 1940s, it was owned by the Santa Fe and had Alcos lettered for IN a la LAJ, but the pattern was in this case the same as Santa Fe zebra striping. I'm thinking hard about getting a Bachmann S4 and changing the lettering to Illinois Northern -- slightly easier than doing LAJ.