Did any of the ALCo S2's ever receive the later style FRISCO lettering & numbers (I don't know what to call the lettering font style) used on the EMD, Baldwin and F-M diesel switchers? Ken (Meteor910)
Re: 290-297 (Lettering Styles) Ken - Just saw this post from a while back. I checked the Springfield-Greene Co. collection on line and no S-2 photos there. Mike Condren has a "Paint Shop" column under construction his website (thanks, Mike!). He references scheme FR-S4d, applied to NW-2s and S-2s and using "Roman" lettering, with the S-2s actually delivered in FR-S4e, which had the painted coonskin w/unit number. Interesting, the Fallen Flags website has a solitary photo of an S-2: #294 (unk photographer) in 1967 at Birmingham in the Roman lettering: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/slsf/slsf294.jpg I'm wanting to think I've seen this photo elsewhere?
I was just looking at pictures of Alco S2 locomotives on the 'net and noticed that New York, Susquehanna & Western S2s shared virtually the same paint scheme as the old North East Oklahoma S2s that ended up as SLSF 295, 296, and 298. Take a look at images taken from the Frisco Archive and the RRPicturesArchive.
That is an amazing similarity. I wonder if there is a reason other than it looks fairly good. Could there have been someone who worked for both NEO and NYS&W that influenced the paint schemes?
More likely that is a standard ALCo "catalog" paint scheme that ALCo offered that both railroads happened to choose. EMD also offered "catalog" paint schemes.