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 The C&O started buying diesel engines in the late 1940s with the purchase of a few E-8s for passenger trains. But it wasn't until the mid 1950s that the C&O began wholesale conversion of its engine roster to diesel. The C&O took delivery of several hundred GP-7s from EMD in this time. The first batch of locomotives arrived painted in the C&O's Enchantment Blue. These early diesels sported various treatments of yellow stripes and trim.
The photo at the right (click on photos for larger views) shows three Atlas N Scale GP-7s painted in two of the earlier schemes. The models have detail changes necessary to model  a particular prototype locomotive. The C&O had a penchant for modifying their engines in small groups, so many combinations of minor detail changes are possible. In this photo you can see that some units have bells mounted high on the noses, horns have different number of chimes and are relocated while some of the engines had cloth sun shades. I worked from prototype photos to get the details right for each specific engine.
I painted the engines with Modelflex C&O Enchantment Blue. The decals are by Microscale. I brush painted the yellow areas using appropriate yellow craft acrylics. I used other craft paints to paint the MU cables, engine cabs and detail parts. I used Testors Dullcote to seal the decals. Then I weathered the models with chalk and drybrushing.
C&O GP-7 5829 was a specially modified locomotive. It included a steam generator in the  front hood. A locally fabricated duct routed exhaust behind the cab. I fabricated the duct using a piece of Evergreen C Channel. I made the stack on the front using a small piece of styrene tube. To support the duct I glued small strips of 0.010 x 0.020 inch Evergreen strip. With these strips the overall assembly was quite fragile and several of the strips broke during handling. To reinforce the duct, I added two small strips of 0.040 inch plastic under the channel. These are not too noticeable and still allow for a see through effect under the duct. I weathered the duct heavily as the high temperature quickly attacked the paint.
In the above photo 5829 leads a mixed train. This was a typical consist for 5829 as it served the Hot Springs Branch. The Homestead Resort was located on this branch and it received a daily train consisting of a combine mail-passenger car, a box car with supplies, and a caboose. Occasionally the train would also include a sleeper from New York or a coal hopper for the resort's steam plant.
The great flexibility of multiple unit consists was one reason diesels came to dominate freight trains. The C&O often used three or four diesels to replace one steam superpower engine on many freight and coal trains. The dynamic brake equipped diesels can in handy when tackling the grades on the coal branches and Alleghany subdivision.
The photo at the right clearly shows the diesel number boards. The easiest way I have found to make number boards is to use my computer.  Using Adobe Illustrator I typed the required road numbers. I experimented with the type font until I found one that was very close to the type used on the prototype C&O engines. I found 4 point Verdana with a 0.25 point stroke to be very close. I printed these numbers white on a black background using a Epson Stylus Photo printer on Photo paper. This paper is a thick, glossy stock and is easy to trim to the correct size. I secured the number boards to the engines using a bit of Microscale Crystal Clear. In a few cases I touched up the number boards with a bit of black paint on a ten 0 brush to hide the white edge of the paper.
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