4-8-8-2 Yellowstones

3rd Rail has one available in O.

URL for their >Has any manufacturer came up w/a GN Yellowstone loco?

-- Carl Heinz - snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

I've checked three of my reference books and find no record of the GN ever owning a yellowstone. I found record of many 2-6-8-0, 2-8-8-0, and

2-8-8-2s but no yellowstones. It is possible that they may have leased some from the DM&IR like the NP did.

The GN never owned a 'Yellowstone' class engine(that should be

2-8-8-4). GN did own some rather massive 'R' class 2-8-8-2 locomotives, and a pair of 4-6-6-4 'Challengers' that we acquired in a swap with SP&S

- IIRC. The NP owned 'Yellowstones', and they were not loaners from the DM&IR as another post implies. The D&RGW did lease DM&IR 2-8-8-4's during WWII, but not the NP(unless someone has records of a lease)....

Jim Bernier

JaiJEF wrote:

Which makes you wonder about an outfit that sells 2-8-8-4's as "GN Yellowstones" - sort of an IHC "paint on any old road name that'll sell" attitude, only at $1400 rather than $70!

I don't think they ever did. MTH sells an O scale DM&IR Yellowstone, with greyish-green paint on the boiler. I don't know enough about the prototype to know whether this is legitimate, but it looks very much like a GN paint scheme if one can't see the logo on the tender...

Several people Do seem to think GN had Yellowstones:

. . . and others - do a Google for Northern Pacific Z-5

Well, of course they don't: they're NP Yellowstones. Derrrrr . . . .

GN never had a "Yellowstone" (2-8+8-4) type.

GN did have 2-6+6-2, 2-8+8-0, and 2-8+8-2 articulated types.

But, if they'd ever had a Yellowstone, it would almost surely have had green jackets like the others (in the appropriate time frame). After W.W.-II most GN locos just got painted black.

Dan Mitchell ===========\

JaiJEF wrote:

Some of the DM&IR Yellowstones DID have a greenish gray boiler jacket. Others were just black. I'm no DM&IR expert, but it may have been a 'vintage' factor, just like on the Great Northern. After W.W-II, much of any remaining steam turned black ... or, sadly, rust colored.

Dan Mitchell ==========

Marc Ramsey wrote:

Dan,

The GN steamers had 'Glacier Green' jacketing(just about all engines at one time had this scheme). The DM&IR had a 'grey' jacketing, (at least on the 'Yellowstones'). The NP Northerns had an 'off black' mix that some have referred to as 'Duckbill Green' - you have to look real close to tell it. It is my understanding that some of the larger D&RGW steam may have had a special paint on the jacketing as well.

Jim Bernier

"Daniel A. Mitchell" wrote:

Since when is the NP (Northern Pacific) the same as the GN (Great Northern)? And don't bring up BN. The sites listed discuss NP, SP, and DM&IR Yellowstones. No GN.

Dan Mitchell ==========

E Litella wrote:

Oops, forgot one! GN had 4-6+6-4's also (just two, briefly, though hardly anyone would confuse those with Yellowstones.

Dan Mitchell ==========

"Daniel A. Mitchell" wrote:

The GN steam loco 'boiler green' was most emphatically **NOT** 'Glacier Green'! Glacier Green was the very vivid rather turquoise bluish-green (somewhat like NYC Jade Green) used on the 1960's era boxcars and a few other things.

The confusion likely originates with the fact that the most colorful of the several GN steam loco schemes was called 'Glacier Park' (Kalispel Division), and these had the green boiler jackets, and green pump and cylinder jackets (along with most every other GN steam loco of the period). The 'Glacier Park' locos also had red cab roofs, and silver smokeboxes. Some had chromed cylinder heads and other refinements. Aside from the green jackets, these other color embellishments were NOT standard across the system (though there were many variations).

The matter was further clouded when Bachmann painted their early HO 'GN' (not hardly) 2-8-0 in a turquoise color. This was patterened off the GN P-2 mountain on display in Wilmar, MN. It WAS that color! It didn't start off that way though ... it was an extreme example of color shifting due to weathering. Th epaint was NOT 'real' GN paint, but just somehting that somebody brewed up that MAY have been 'ok' when put on, but changed dramatically. Unfortuantely, Bachmann copied this sad example. To their credit, Bahmann corrected this, somewhat, in later runs. Still not right, but much better. And the real P2 at Wilmar was repainted black the last time I saw it.

Steam loco boiler green was MUCH darker than these other colors, less green, and had a somewhat blue-grayish cast. GN fans have argued loud and long on the exact shade, and the correct answer is that there isn't one. It varied due to MANY factors: with time, location, paint batch, and weathering. Surviving color photos are also shifted due to lighting conditions, exposure, film choice, filter used, and color shifts in the film emulsion due to aging. But 'GN Boiler Green' wasn't forest green (WAY too green), or pullman green (not dark enough, and too olive), and certainly not glacier green. Some of the GN brass models and even MTH's R2 come pretty close ... well within acceptable limits anyway.

No commercial hobby-paint mix of the color has been made to my knowledge. There are, or have been, several other GN greens, however.

Dan Mitchell ==========

Jim Bernier wrote:

Dan,

I agree that the 'Glacier Green' of boxcar fame is not the same as 'Glacier Park' steam engines. The Wilmar engine did really get that awfull color - my sources have told me that the GN did use some boxcar paint for the jacketing(maybe just another 'urban legend'). I have seen some so-called 'custom painters' use 'Gacier Green' frt car paint at times! But I agree that the 'Glacier Park' green is much darker - sorry for confusion in my post....

Jim Bernier

"Daniel A. Mitchell" wrote: