We’ve seen plenty of paintings by Ben Dedek, but here are ten more. Some of these have already been seen in the form of data cards, but the original paintings are higher in resolution and uncropped. Dedek’s name appeared on more than 100 data cards and as far as released works are concerned he was EMD’s most prolific illustrator.
Click any image for a larger view. Source: Palumbo. Click here to download a 18.5-MB PDF of high-resolution images of all these paintings. The size of the images in this PDF is based on the resolution of the original images, not the actual size of the paintings in inches.
This painting associated with an F3 data card we saw a few weeks ago. The full painting doesn’t give us that much more information, but it certainly shows that Dedek was dedicated to providing detailed vegetation and other landscaping surrounding the locomotive.
Source: Palumbo.
This painting was also used on an F3 data card shown here a few weeks ago. I’ve suggested that one of the purposes of brightly colored paint schemes was safety, but Pennsylvania, the self-proclaimed Standard Railroad of the World, didn’t seem to care about that. GM delivered this locomotive in September 1947.
Source: Palumbo.
Another F3 locomotive painting that appeared on a data card shown here a few weeks ago. Jersey Central had brightly colored noses even if neighbor Pennsylvania did not.
Source: Soulis.
This painting is for an F3 locomotive that was delivered in March 1948. This paint scheme replaced the citrus colors that appeared on some of the FTs.
Source: Soulis.
Kansas City Southern’s passenger Diesels were painted yellow with red roofs while its freight Diesels were painted red with yellow roofs. This may have been an attempt to show what the freight scheme would look like, but it is missing the green stripe that appeared below the window strip on both schemes.
Source: Palumbo.
The colors on this E8 match those on the E7 data card shown here a few weeks ago.
Source: Soulis.
Dedek painted multiple ideas for the nose treatment on the MKT locomotives that would be used for the Texas Special. The final idea appeared on an E7 data card.
Source: Soulis.
Here are two more nose treatments considered for the Texas Special.
Source: Soulis.
This ready-for-data-card painting of an E8 shows that C&O stayed with the same paint job that was used on the E7 data card.
Source: Palumbo.
As shown above, PRR’s freight locomotives were painted in what the railroad called Brunswick green, but its passenger locomotives were painted in what it called Tuscan red. This was such a dark red that it probably improved visibility only a little. This particular E8 locomotive was delivered in 1952.
Source: Palumbo.
Coincidentally, Frisco’s passenger colors were almost the same as Pennsylvania’s, though PRR’s Tuscan red was closer to maroon. We previously saw the data card that used this painting.