Soon to roll out of IRM's famous paint shop... a Rock Island GP7R looking just as it did after its 1970's rebuild.
This is cool. IRM's diesel paint jobs are top notch. This thing is going to look phenomenal.
Note: Fans call this color "bankruptcy blue" and associate it with decline of the railroad.
But, it was during the blue paint era under
John Ingram that the railroad was on the way to recovery. Things were turning around. Blue signified good management.
Unfortunately, the clerks did not get it and went on strike, shutting the railroad down. I believe back pay was a key demand. If not for that strike, the company would probably have survived intact into the mega-merger era 15 or 20 years later.
A very similar loco pictured below:
[
www.railpictures.net]