Was a New Color Scheme Proposed for the 300 Class?

I heard somewhere that a new color scheme was proposed for the 300 class. I thought it was orange, like the 9000 class gons. Supposedly it was nixed because of the bankruptcy, and an image change was not allowed. That seems odd, as Rock Island changed its colors while in bankruptcy. Maybe it was because the trustees didn't want to spend the money to paint existing units to match.

Is there any truth to this, or was I fed misinformation?

Sometime in 1977, as employees, if we were interested, could obtain a blank drawing of a GP-40-2(no crayons, WAH) to join in on a company contest to design a new color scheme to be applied to the new engines. The winning design was, as we all know, was the RR name spelled out on the long hood, white sill stripe, and the initials "BM" applied to the nose, and soon, all re-paints followed suit in an effort to do away with the boring "Blue Dips" and project a new company image.
I actually submitted a design with a bright red carbody with BOSTON & MAINE spelled out in large yellow lettering on the long hood with the MINUTEMAN preceeding the lettering in the same size and a MINUTEMAN on the nose, but that was probably deemed too expensive since we probably had a lot of blue paint kicking around

The rumor going around at the time was, the gondolas were already painted orange for somebody else and they cancelled, and the B&M picked them up, but you know how rumors get started.

Your proposed design would have looked great, Mr. Hutchinson!

The design they ended up with wasn't as exciting or eye-catching, but it was unique and endearing in its own way.

It wasn't a rumor about the gondolas. They were a cancelled order and the B & M picked them up.

edbear wrote:It wasn't a rumor about the gondolas. They were a cancelled order and the B & M picked them up.

I thought that was a true story - Thanks for the confirmation Ed.

I have noticed that the 300s were repainted rather soon. The McGinnis logo on the sides of the cabs was deleted, and a larger number was placed there. Was this because the small numbers on the tops of the hood were hard to see? I can see the need to positively identity an engine, especially at a meet.