I previously noted that GM artists first made a “foundation drawing” of each class of locomotive and then painted color schemes over that drawing. However, it is apparent from the data cards presented yesterday that multiple foundation drawings were made of the E6. The last three cards today appear to be based on the same foundation as the first card yesterday. The second and fourth cards yesterday appear to have the same foundations, while yesterday’s last card and today’s first appear to be unique, perhaps because they were painted before the style department became more systematic.

There is no signature on this painting but it appears to be the work of Harry Bockewitz.

Southern bought seven E6 A units and four B units. The sweeping curves and differences between the A and B units make me suspect this paint scheme was devised by Leland Knickerbocker, but I have no evidence that it was so. The locomotive was delivered in April 1941.

Click image to download a 205-KB PDF of this postcard.

Although the locomotive in the data card is marked “The Tennessean,” Southern also had E6s marked for the Royal Palm and Florida Sunbeam, as shown in the above postcard. The Tennessean was a streamlined train, but the Florida Sunbeam was a heavyweight, as was the Royal Palm until 1949, when it was renamed the New Royal Palm.

This painting is unsigned but it also appears to be by Bockewitz.

E6 15 A & B were the first E units purchased by the Milwaukee Road and the only E6s. They were delivered in September 1941. They may have been the first General Motors locomotives Milwaukee bought, but it also received two FT locomotives in the same month. After the war, Milwaukee bought several E7s and E9s and, of course, many F units.

This painting is signed Ben J. Dedek.

Illinois Central’s distinctive chocolate-and-orange color scheme was probably designed by Knickerbocker or Paul Meyer. Locomotive 4000 was delivered in 1940, but 4001, which is pictured here, was not delivered until November 1941. Note that a pair of E6s produced 4,000 horsepower and IC numbered them in the 4000 series.

Another unsigned painting that looks like it was by Bockewitz.

Other than some switch engines, the first General Motors locomotives purchased by Louisville & Nashville appear to have been eight A & B pairs of E6s. These were numbered 450 through 457 and number 450, pictured here, was delivered in April 1942.