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for application to the road’s new GP30s, by first testing it on a GP18. Although the particular gray and yellow hues are a few shades darker in tone, and the effort was not officially attributed to any Clinchfield influence, an inspired, if subtle, homage seems nonetheless apparent.


L&N’s 1962 gray scheme fea- tured black keylines around the modernized typeface herald and variously styled yellow areas on the nose, along with Scotchlite numerals. As the ensuing decade conspired to further constrain re- sources amongst transport com- petition and industry upheaval, further simplifications emerged by eliminating the black; simpli- fying, minimizing, and eventually eliminating the yellow nose areas; and trading Scotchlite for paint. In any case, by the time young but well-worn C-430s joined the L&N roster, the scheme had de- volved into a ghostly apparition of “stealth.”


As for L&N’s Century 430s, they were but a lonesome trio bearing special notoriety as for- mer Alco Demonstrator units


430-1, 430-2, and 430-3. Follow- ing their ultimately solemn three- year sales tour, Alco sold them to Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) in 1968, where they were renum- bered 1275, 1276, and 1277. They served SCL in bumblebee garb until 1976, when they were passed to L&N under the Fam- ily Lines alliance. L&N bathed them in the stealth dip, renum- bering them 5600–5602 in the process. Their mainline career on L&N was brief. By 1979, they were demoted to yard service in Corbin, Kentucky, paired with slugs, and renumbered via hop- scotch to 2244, 2247, and 2260. As this simply claimed the open numbers among a group of ag- ing EMD SW7s, it was perhaps the final indignity for Alco’s last four-axle gasp, but they eked out two more years of service before being retired and scrapped in Oc- tober 1981. With this offering, Bowser rep- resents the waning days of a for- mer demonstrator — an under- standable choice since its captive service means it was rarely seen


beyond yard limits. The stealth look demands nothing resem- bling complexity, but the applied hues look accurate, and the let- tering typeface and placement are correct. Bowser’s C-430 is loaded with intricacies and details befit- ting its prototype, though L&N’s were not visibly exotic save for two notable features. The first is horn placement, which Bowser correctly replicates and smartly accommodates with modified packaging. The second are the air intakes that were mostly plat- ed over, reducing the trademark louvered inlets and oversized screens, with flush grates similar to contemporary General Electric units. Because this modification was done only to three units for their final two years of assigned yard service, it’s forgivable that Bowser did not modify its tool- ing to replicate this change. This modification should be fairly easy to implement, though — the grille details could be easily shaved off and plated over with


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