which puzzles me still. The basic system (up through 1970) was pretty straightforward: most coaches and electric locos were chromium green (except the Silberlinge). F-zug locos and coaches were cobalt blue. Diesel locos were Bordeaux red with gray tops. But the little 169s that pulled our local were a little different. 002 and 004, which usually pulled passenger coaches, were green. But 003 and 005, which pulled freight most of the time, were in diesel red (and, as museum locos, still are). Can anyone explain this oddity?
Maybe something to do with the German flag ? As the German flag has red but not green , so red would make more sense
I tried looking through some German sources. The best answer I could find was this: When delivered, all locos were green. It was in 1959 when E69 03 and E69 05 were brought in for regular servicing that they were repainted red. The same happened to the E60 and E63 family. The following is my speculation: It seems that the E69 was internally (re-)classified as a shunter and was repainted as such in red when an opportune moment arose. My source: https://lok-magazin.de/leseprobe/die-baureihe-e-69?page=3
I think that is an entirely logical explanation, since from 1955-64 002 and 003 did serve as shunters, in Munchen, Rosenheim and then Heidelberg. It seems that DB changed their policy before 002's and 004's next scheduled servicing!
