Great Northern in HO - Which is right?

[Wildcatfootball]

I'm almost done buying the Walthers Great Northern passenger car set, and now need to start thinking about what I'll power it with. I already have a P2K FA A/B/B/A set (the latest ones) and love them, but now I'm looking for a F7 A/B/B/A set. I was looking at the P2K and Genesis, but noticed something... The P2K has silver trucks, and the Genesis has Black...Which one is historically right? The P2K FA set has black trucks, and the cars I have all have black, so why did P2K make silver trucks on the F7's if not correct?? I'm just confused here a bit...

 

[Triplex]

Every photo I can recall of a GN diesel has black trucks.

Hold on... http://www.trainmaster.ch/images/B-GN-12.jpg Some F-units, it sems, did have silver trucks.

 

[cnw1961]

Wildcatfootball, Triplex, on Fallen Flags is one photo of an GN F7A that did not have black trucks. The picture is only black and white, so it is not possible to tell what the color really was: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/gn/gn368Aads.jpg .

 

[DanRaitz]

From what I've been able to determine from photo's of GN "F" units. The ones with silver trucks and fuel tanks were used for passenger service whereas the ones with black trucks and fuel tanks were used for freight.

Dan

 

[wjstix]

For a brief period, I think 1962-67, GN passenger diesels had their trucks painted silver...or at least many of them did. Before that, both freight and passenger trucks were black. So...it depends on your era. For a true "1955 Empire Builder" the trucks would be black.

 

[Wildcatfootball]

Thanks everyone for the responses. The GN Empire Builder I am modeling is 1960-1962, the build up of service for the Seattle Worlds Fair... So I guess I could run both silver and black trucks... Thanks again everyone!

 

[wjstix]

BTW I believe the GN's FA units were all freight engines, I don't believe any were used for passenger service. For your period you could 'mix and match' F3's and F7's if you wanted a little diversity.