NSWGR No. 3801
An Australian Pacific with a national following.
Bring the engine
to life.
Start with the suggested palette or choose your own colours. Build gentle layers around the engine's distinctive shapes.
Suggested pencil shades and approximate screen swatches. These are not historical paint specifications.
Start lightly and build the darker surfaces gradually. Preserve the printed details.
Leave fine white highlights to separate the moving parts.
Keep the surroundings quieter than the locomotive. Retain light sky areas.
Look a little closer.
3801 working a train in green with a dark smokebox front and red buffer beam. Read each caption before using it as a colour or configuration reference.
3801 working a train in green with a dark smokebox front and red buffer beam. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Kypros1992 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Preserved 3801 in bright green with pale lining, black lower surfaces and silver-grey connecting rods. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
3801 approaching in green with a dark front and red buffer beam, seen in a heritage working scene. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Gareth Aus~commonswiki · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Elevated station view of 3801 showing a bright green streamlined casing, pale lining and dark running gear. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
nzsteam · CC BY 2.0 · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Close detail of 3801’s polished metal connecting rods and joints against dark running gear. Photograph of the named locomotive. Preserved appearance may differ from its original working condition.
Jack Heywood · Public domain · Source photograph. Resized and converted to WebP.
Know the version.
Transport Heritage NSW records that 3801 returned to green livery in 1963. It was one of the first five semi-streamlined members of the class; the later twenty-five had a different unstreamlined outline. Match both the number and casing before copying a photograph. The pencil example suggests the green appearance without specifying an exact paint shade.
The pencil example uses green and restrained red. Its palette is interpretive. The gallery records the particular appearances described in its captions; preserved engines, replicas and monochrome photographs cannot establish every original shade or marking.
Transport Heritage NSW: locomotive 3801Did you know?
Only the first five C38 locomotives were semi-streamlined. The remaining twenty-five were built without that casing at Eveleigh and Cardiff workshops.
Make the details count.
Follow the curved casing with gentle lengthwise strokes.
Keep each of the three driving axles readable beneath the body.