Norfolk and Western Redbirds - Tuscan Locomotives

I recently picked up a copy of "Norfolk & Western in Color Volume 3" by Morning Sun Books, an excellent book which I hoped might provide some useful reference for my planned Peoria layout.

The book has hundreds of full colour images showing a wealth of details on N&W and Norfolk Southern locomotives and facilities.  Really a great read and I highly recommend it.  See here for more details:  http://www.morningsunbooks.com/southcat.html#nw_v3

Image from Norfolk & Western in color - Morning Sun Books

One of the interesting finds in the book was a series of pictures showing the Tuscan Red C30-7's and SD40-2 that were delivered to N&W in 1978/79.  These locomotives featured a metallic red pain scheme with gold lettering and they look very sharp indeed.

Photograph by Leon Kay http://www.flickr.com/photos/8226029@N06/2255359017/

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=46167&nseq=9

I've ordered a set of Microscale decals (Set HO110) which cover the required logos and numbers for all seven units that featured this scheme.

http://www.shellscale.com/HO110page.htm

This should be a good project, although I am now on the lookout for a cheap C30-7 as a base unit for this project. There are several different versions available, including an old Railpower shell and versions by Atlas and Broadway Limited so I'm sure something will turn up sooner or later.