In General

Bicentennial

Alaska RR
Boston & Maine
Cambria & Indiana
Chicago & Northwestern
Colorado & Wyoming
Conrail
Cotton Belt
Detroit Toledo & Ironton
Detroit & Mackinac
Detroit & Toledo Short Line
Grand Trunk
Illinois Central Gulf
Ingersoll-Rand
Lehigh Valley
Lukens Steel
Missouri-Kansas-Texas
New York Susquehanna & Western
Norfolk & Western
Nucor Steel
Patapsco & Back Rivers
Seaboard Coast Line
Shawmut Line
Southern Pacific
Toledo Peoria & Western
Union Pacific

Patriotic
Canadian National
Indiana Harbor Belt
Kansas City Southern
Norfolk Southern
Southern Pacific
Union Pacific

Special
EMD Demonstrators
General Electric Demonstrators
Maersk/ATSF
Union Pacific

Live Steam and Diesel
Floobydust


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In General



The Scoop:

If you were around in the 60's and 70's, you were very lucky.  You got to see a lot of railroads that are no longer with us - they "disappeared" right before your eyes.  Mergers were happening all over the place.

Railroads like the Burlington Northern came about, along with the Chessie System, the Illinois Central Gulf, and the Penn Central.  Other railroads managed to absorb a whole slew of "lesser" railroads, ones that maybe weren't doing all that well.... Like the Union Pacific absorbing the Cotton Belt, Western Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Missouri Pacific, and the Chicago Northwestern.... and the Norfolk and Western absorbed railroads like the Virginian, Nickel Plate, and Wabash among many others.

It also seems like the 60's and 70's (and some continuing into the 80's) were a great time for steam excursions.  Engines such as NKP #759 and #765, SP #4449, UP #8444, N&W #611, Southern #4501, RDG #2101 and #2102, and D&H #302 (which was #2102 in disguise :-).

With all of this "stuff" going on however, almost every railroad that was around in 1975, made the decision to paint at least one engine in Bicentennial colors.  Big railroads, short lines, and even many industrial railroads took the opportunity to take part in the national celebration!

I've been railfanning since the mid 60's, but one of the most memorable sights I've ever seen was SCL #1776 running at speed, southbound out of Richmond Virginia along I-95 (actually, I believe it was still US 301 in 1975), AT NIGHT!  It was all lit up!  I paced it for as long as I could before the R-O-W wandered away from the highway.  That was an excellent chance catch.  It's too bad all I had in the camera was 25 speed Kodachrome film, and not the cell phones of today :-(

One thing lead to another, and someone suggested that I add the special paint schemes the railroads have done over the years to celebrate veterans, active military, first responders, presidents, etc.  This led me to say, what the heck, let's add special paint jobs for miscellaneous reasons, like the Maersk repaint below.... I may have to create another page if this one gets to big :-)

This page will highlight whatever I can find on these Patriotic Locomotives.  If you do a search for any of these locomotives, you will find many, many more pictures than I have shown here.

A round of applause goes to all of these photographers for being in the right place at the right time!!!

Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd
Jim Bartolotta
Joseph Bishop
Joe Blackwell
Adam Burns
Warren Calloway
John Campbell
Joseph Cermak
R. Craig
Alan Dykstra
Matthew Griffin
George Hamlin
William Harwell Jr
David Hedlund
Thomas J. Heher
Larry Irvin
JB
Don Jilson
Gregory Owen Johnson
C.W. Lahickey
Doug Lilly
Marc Lingenfelter
Terry Lovell
Kevin Morgan
Jim Munding
L.R. Myers
Frank Orona
George Pitz
Mike Ray
Colin Ritchie
K Sies
Dan Tracy
Mark Vogel
Craig Walker
Ken Ziegenbein
The FB page on Bicentennial Trains
Google Images

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
https://www.facebook.com/BicentennialTrains/
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/bicent7.html
https://trpmagazine.com/bicentennial-units/
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG65204 About NS #6920
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_4141
https://www.up.com/heritage/fleet/commemorative/ghw-bush-4141/photos/index.htm
https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/commemorative/index.htm
https://www.progressrail.com/en/Segments/RollingStock/Locomotives/FreightLocomotives/SD70ACe.html
https://www.thedieselshop.us/ProgressDemo.HTML
https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/we-are-one-1979-210527.htm


Bicentennial


Alaska Railroad




Boston & Maine




Cambria & Indiana

photo: Doug Lilly
For those of you not familiar with the C&I, it was one of the Bethlehem Steel railroads in Colver PA.


Chicago & Northwestern

photo: Larry Irvin


Colorado & Wyoming

photo: Frank Orona




Conrail



photo: Gregory Owen Johnson

photo: George Hamlin


Cotton Belt

photo: Joe Blackwell


Detroit Toledo & Ironton




Detroit & Mackinac

photo: David Hedlund


Detroit & Toledo Short Line




Grand Trunk

photo: Dan Tracy


Illinois Central Gulf




Ingersoll-Rand

photo: John Campbell Collection




Lehigh Valley

photo: Don Jilson
The Lehigh Valley did not paint any engines, this is their sole contribution taken a couple of days before Conrail - Conrail was quick to paint over this nice looking caboose.


Lukens Steel / Coatesville PA

postcard from EBay


Missouri-Kansas-Texas

Photo: JB


Missouri Pacific

photo: Alan Dykstra


New York Susquehanna & Western




Norfolk & Western

photo: Mike Ray


Patapsco & Back Rivers RR / Baltimore MD

photo: George Pitz


Seaboard Coast Line

photo: William Harwell Jr

photo: Jim Munding

SCL #1776 was the first Bicentennial engine according to the storyline on TRPmagazine dot com:




Shawmut Line

photo: Warren Calloway


Southern Pacific

photo: Jim Bartolotta

photo: Craig Walker

postcard from EBay

photo: Joe Blackwell


Toledo Peoria & Western




Union Pacific


Patriotic


Canadian National

photo: Joseph Bishop

photo: Terry Lovell

photo: Colin Ritchie


Indiana Harbor Belt

picture: Marc Lingenfelter


Kansas City Southern


Kansas City Southern officials unveiled a locomotive with a patriotic paint scheme on 11/12/2018.  The scheme demonstrates the company's pride in past and present U.S. military activity duty and veteran employees.


Norfolk Southern










Southern Pacific

photo: Craig Walker




Union Pacific

Union Pacific #3593 - Desert Victory

photo: Ken Ziegenbein
Originally UP #8084. Here's a February 27, 1991 photo of Union Pacific 3593, the Desert Storm locomotive (actually named Desert Victory), that UP painted in honor of Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. This was the dedication of the locomotive in front of UP's Jenks Shops in North Little Rock AR. According to UtahRails.net, (http://utahrails.net/up/up- diesel-paint.php), on February 27, 1991, UP SD40-2 3593 was released from Jenks shops painted with a U.S. Army inspired camouflage paint scheme to commemorate the 66 UP employees who participated in Operation Desert Storm. It was was repainted in UP yellow on October 11, 1991 since it was harder to see due to the camouflage paint scheme.




Union Pacific #4141 - The George Bush 41








Union Pacific #1943 - The Spirit

photo: L. R. Myers/2018/Horseshoe Curve






Nucor Steel / Whitesville IN

photo: Mark Vogel
A new paint job, with the photo being taken in 2008.


Special Paint Jobs

Canadian Pacific

photo: Railway Age
Meanwhile, "up" in Canada, Canadian Pacific’s line-haul HFC locomotive, equipped with Ballard Power Systems technology, began operational testing in January 2022. CP’s locomotive is the HSOEL, which stands for Hydrogen Zero Emissions Locomotive.


GM Electro-Motive Division Demonstrators

--- GM6C

photo: R. Craig / 1989

photo: C.W. Lahickey / 1980

--- GP20

photo: Adam Burns / 1960

--- GP38-2

photo: R. Craig / 1989

--- SD45X

photo: R. Craig/ 1989

--- GP60

photo: R. Craig / 1989

--- SD70ACe

photo: EMD/Progress Rail

photo: K Sies



--- SD70ACe-P4

photo: Thomas J. Heher

--- SD80MAC

photo: Ft Smith Trolley Museum / 1995


General Electric Demonstrators

--- C40-8

photo: Joseph Cermak/ 2016


Maersk / ATSF

photo: Joe Blackwell


Union Pacific Special Editions

--- Powered By Our People

photo: Mike Ray / 2022

--- We Are One

photo: Kevin Morgan / 2021







--- Salt Lake City Olympics

photo: Matthew Griffin / 2022


Live Steam and Diesel






It's difficult to tell with this photo, since the rail looks like the real thing, until you notice the riding seats behind the engine.


Floobydust


Posters

 






Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given!  Please be NICE!!!  Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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NEW JAN15/2023, JAN16/17/18/19/2023
Last Modified 21-Jan-2023