Paint scheme history?

I came to the realization that I don't know much about the various paint schemes and when/where they came from.

I think the 'sargeant stripes' debuted around 1973?? That's about all I know. (sad, I realize)

Where might I look to find this kind of info? When a paint scheme started/ended, what locomotive # it debuted on, etc.

I tried a Google search, but I get so many different results and none of them are even close to what I'm searching for. Any ideas would be mint Thanks!

u can try matching pics with dates.
50's-60's green
60's-70's black/orange no stripes
look at the GP7+9's
and check the FP 9's

Some of the information you're looking for would be available on the CN Special Interest Group site at http://www.cnlines.ca.

For example, it says there that FP9A 5636 and F9B 6636 were the first two units painted in the new black, white, & orange scheme in 1961.

The current scheme has evolved from the early 1960's. It was designed by Alan Fleming, and has really withstood the test of time. The original version looked like this:

It really had a flow - notice how the red does not cover the cab top and tapers off at the angle of the stripes. Really cool. Compare it to the current E9's, which look quite nice, too. The only thing is the red doesn't integrate quite as well in my opinion - it goes over the top of the cab. Definitely a nice look overall, though.

I'd suggest getting the Morning Sun color books on passenger/freight equipment. For locos, the Rail Canada book on CN lines is also very good.

Some remember the @1955 green/black scheme for new passenger cars.
It gets fun when you begin to track the GTW blue adaptation of the New Image colors.