ATSF Equipment Paint & Lettering Schemes

[texascowboy]

I'm not sure if this is the proper Directory for this questions so if not, someone please direct me to the right place. My question is however, can someone tell me roughly what year(s) the ATSF began using the Big Circle emblem & Indian Red paint on its freight equipment? I thought it was sometime in the late 1950s after steam had been phased out, but photographs I have seen from that time period show little to no equipment in that paint scheme. Thanks for any enlightenment. clint

[rdayt]

Closest I can find is 1974 with the "waffle" boxcar.

Randy

[cuontv]

Clint,

I want to say late 1958, but I don't have my research materials handy to confirm. There's a photo out there somewhere of tracks full of boxcars around the Topeka Shops in the Indian Red and black scheme with large white logo and lettering from 1960.

Hope this helps,
-Tom

[jbtower]

I threw it through AI and it spit out 1945 as the ATSF was trying to rebrand itself.

[oper190]

Clint - if it is this one, used on the Super Chief:
superchief.jpg It was used on the ATSF's first diesels to pull the Super Chief starting in 1935.

Surely used on rolling stock to advertise that service.

[Coonskin]

I'm not sure if this is the proper Directory for this questions so if not, someone please direct me to the right place. My question is however, can someone tell me roughly what year(s) the ATSF began using the Big Circle emblem & Indian Red paint on its freight equipment? I thought it was sometime in the late 1950s after steam had been phased out, but photographs I have seen from that time period show little to no equipment in that paint scheme. Thanks for any enlightenment. clint

Are you talking about the boxcars with red sides and black ends/roof, having a large white circle w/cross herald on the left side and "Shock Control" in yellow letters or the right?

If so, I found this:

"Topeka shops installed a 10-inch travel “Shock Control” sliding center sill underframe in a Bx-66 Class box car in June 1958. Numbered, 10001 and reclassed as a Bx-77 with a new Indian red and black paint scheme with a large Santa Fe herald and new advertising slogan “DF with Shock Control” splashed across the car side, this car ushered in a new era in box car construction. From then on, nearly all new classes of Santa Fe box cars were fitted with either a Shock Control, or a Super Shock Control underframe, introduced in 1961. The last box cars built new for Santa Fe were 200 XF food loading car in Class Bx-211 outshopped at Santa Fe’s Topeka shops in 1981."

Hope that helps.

Andre

[texascowboy]

After making my original post, I stumbled across a book that belonged to my father entitled "ATSF Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment" by Lloyd E. Stagner. While it doesn't answer every single question one might have concerning ATSF painting & lettering, it does have a tremendous amount of info on both freight & passenger equipment that someone interested in ATSF operations will likely find interesting.
It also answers my original question about when the railroad began repainting their freight equipment in red & black paint. There is a pic of a Bx-76 boxcar in said paint at San Bernardino, CA in 1958. However, although the car does wear red & black paint, it does have the older style, square black & white Santa Fe circle & cross herald. It also appears that the new paint scheme was initially applied only to new equipment, with older equipment (primarily boxcars & reefers) being repainted only when they were being shopped. There is also a caption for another pic that states that the big herald began being applied in December, 1959.
While I cannot speak to the accuracy of any of this information, but neither do I have any reason to believe it is inaccurate, and I wanted to pass it along to anyone else who might be interested. clint

[cuontv]

Clint,

The photo I was refering to, Topeka, KS October 1962. Not my photo.

Hope this helps,
Tom