Caption: Here we have my father's model of C&O 4175 on the hood of the nose of the real C&O 4175.The real 4175 is on the point of that day's DT41 (Buffalo to Detroit) on the C&O Canadian District Sub 1 mainline. DT41 is stopped in Harrow to lift the cars set out by Local 1 the night before in the passing siding.

My dad got to know all the crew quite well. He was already well into his 4th decade as a model railroader at this point and was known to local model railroaders as a great custom painter / detailer (for the era, mind you!). He made several Chessie models, including this one. Over time, he wrestled with perfecting the Chessie vermillion shade by making different mixes and applying it to the locos stopped in Harrow (with permission from the crew, who thought it was rather funny). He still has the bottle and detailed mix notes of what he settled on for Chessie vermillion paint and references it to this day when doing a Chessie paint job or touch up / fix. This model in particular was one of his earlier Chessie efforts, but one of the earlier more successful ones.

4175 was a regular for a while on DT41 and NI42, which is why my dad made a model of it, having snapped a few shots of it. It just so happened to be coming through that day, so he brought the model along with him on the chase to Harrow.

The real 4175 received two Chessie paint schemes. It wore some of the earliest Chessie paint on delivery as one of the earliest GP40-2s on the C&O. It received a Chessie repaint shortly after this photo was taken. Its new paint saw the Chess-C on the nose lowered out of the vermillion. It survived in its relatively new Chessie paint into the CSX era (with its new number of 6074) before getting a YN2 treatment and then later a dark future paint job, which it still wears to this day, still serving in the family of its original lineage.

The model is still around, but considering its age as an old "Atlas Growler" is more nostalgic shelf material than anything else now. My dad still works on building models and doing fresh paint schemes, but this one always holds a special spot in our memories.