The D&H RS-3u was more than just a nose job too. They were a pretty comprehensive overhaul and upgrade. Alco-heavy D&H still had a number of old RS-3s running around into the '70s and wanted to get more mileage out of them while replacing the trouble-prone 244 engines. Green Bay & Western had done a 251C repower a few years earlier, and themselves had learned the trick from Portugese Railways. So, D&H sent 10 of their RS-3s out to Morrison-Knudsen (who had done the rebuilds on the last 4 PAs for D&H the year before) and had them converted to RS-3us. The 12-cylinder 1600hp 244 was removed and replaced with a 12-cylinder 2000hp 251C prime mover, while all the good GE generators and traction motors were retained. They also installed new radiators and engine oil coolers. The belt-driven blower motor for cooling the rear traction motor was replaced and hooked to ducting for a high-capacity blower for the front traction motor. The long hood was made 12" taller, while the front hood was chopped lower. The dynamic braking components were moved from the short hood (allowing it to be lower) and mounted in a box on top of the long hood. The RS-3s were delivered to run long-hood forward but now had the control stands flipped to make short hood the front of the locomotive. And the cab was redesigned to be more like that of an RS-27, with number boards up top. Unfortunately, while more reliable and more powerful, the RS-3u was not a successful locomotive. The extra 400hp was too much for the weight of the RS-3 chassis, and they were prone to wheelslip, resulting in D&H crews nicknaming them "Clubfoots."
Railroads got really into the bicentennial as well, and D&H had one of the RS-3us numbered #1976 with a very bright patriotic scheme
Most major US railroads got big into the Bicentennial Celebration. Maybe it was because this was an era when railroads were failling like dominoes and they saw an opportunity to get some good PR. Maybe it was because they knew their relevance in helping the country become what it was. Whatever the reason, just about every railroad had a #1776 in patriotic colors.
Seaboard Coast Line inarguably kicked the whole craze off 4 years before the Bicentennial. When someone at SCL realized that one of the the GE U36B's they had on order would be numbered #1776, they told GE not to paint it in the SCL black and yellow, but instead in a patriotic red, white and blue scheme
Grand Trunk Western had a great-looking GP38AC, originally #5808, whose graphics were designed in an employee contest.
Milwaukee Road may have been in their last gasps, but they still dolled up an SD40-2 in red, white and blue. Oddly, they left the unit number, #156, in place. Even more odd was that Long Island Rail Road picked an almost identical graphic design for a GP38-2, and that similarly, the LIRR retained the unit's original number, #252
New York, Susquehanna & Western got in on the act with an RS-1. Another freak coincidence is that it was #252, the same number as neighboring LIRR's Bicentennial unti.
Conrail pained the very first GG1, #4800, nicknamed Old Rivets, in a livery that just about glowed in the dark.
Detroit, Toledo & Ironton #1776 goes for a spin on a turntable. The bell on top of the short hood is a DT&I signature, as is the lack of dynamic braking flares on the long hood.
Yankeetown Dock Railroad was not a large or well-known operation, but even they got in on the act.
Bangor & Aroostook painted up one of their old GPs, and named it the Jeremiah O'Brien after the Revolutionary War-era naval captain from Massachusetts
Alaska Railroad was not forgotten and painted up 2 of it's F-units, #1510 and #1512 in a more subdued scheme
Lehigh Valley never painted any locomotives, but they did paint a single caboose, only 5 months before being absorbed by Conrail. This photo was taken only 2 days before the Route of the Black Diamond was no more.
Western Pacific Railroad had two GP40s, the #1776 and the #1976. Missouri Pacific also had a pair of units numbered similarly.
Trains, in July of 1975, got together 8 Bicentennial units in Chicago for a single photo. The railroads represented, from left to right, are Burlington Northern, Milwaukee Road, Norfolk Western, Seaboard Coast Line, Illinois Central Gulf (the short-lived name for the Illinios Central/Gulf, Mobile & Ohio merger before they went back to just Illinois Central), St. Louis Southwestern (aka Cotton Belt), Santa Fe, and Belt Railway of Chicago.
With the US's Semiquincentennial celebration only 6 years out, will we see a similar trend with railroads?
A Bicentennial unit with a story to tell was Conrail #1776. Originally it was one of the NJDOT-owned, Erie-Lackawanna operated GE U34CHs (a U36C with a head end power generator and derated to 3430hp) that the E-L had purchased in 1970 to replace their old E8s and Stillwell coaches. When E-L, bankrupt since '72, was merged into Conrail in '76, all the U34CHs ended up in Conrail's hands, but most of them would never wear Conrail colors. Instead, they wore the unique E-L "Bluebird" paint scheme and just gained NJ DOT markings. But #3351 had been involved in a collision in '74 and had been at GE's facilities in Cleveland for a rebuild. GE sent it back with the number 1776 and a Bicentennial scheme with Conrail lettering, the only U34CH to wear Conrail markings.
After '76, it would go into NJ DOT ownership, who would paint over the Conrail lettering and renumber it to #3351 but leave the rest of the scheme as late as '78.
In '78 it was renumbered to #4151 and painted to the Bluebird livery
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (at this point it was on it's last rebrand as The Rock) went with a flashy E-unit
In reply to NickD :
Did Conrail do any others? I have a vague memory of seeing a red, white & blue engine around town circa 1980. As far as I know, Conrail ran all the local traffic at that time. It looks like the one you posted above would have been gone/repainted before then.
In reply to NickD :
I know I had that SCL bicentennial loco in HO scale, and I think possibly one or two of the others.
I have the Tyco HO Bicentennial train set. The outer box is gone but the engine, cars and caboose ( crew cab 
) are in their original boxes.
In reply to kazoospec :
Conrail inherited a pair of Erie-Lackawanna Bicentennial units. One was SDP45 #6669 (ex-E-L #3638), purchased in 1969 while E-L was under Norfolk & Western control. It would revert back to N&W (now Norfolk Southern) ownership in 1984. The SDP45 was an SD45 with a longer frame for a steam generator to be accommodated but E-L ordered them without steam generators, instead taking advantage of the longer frame to install larger fuel tanks, and placing concrete ballast where the generator would be for added traction. Also, bizarrely, they had dual control stands to let them be operated in either direction.
The other was SD45 #6097 (ex-E-L #3632). It's still lettered for Erie-Lackawanna here, and is still wearing it's original number. Conrail just patched over the road lettering and renumbered them.
This is the rarest one, Conrail #7776. The idea was for the #7776 to wear these colors for a few years, but almost immediately it was accidentally painted back into Conrail Blue due to a communication error.
A better look at the Illinois Central Gulf unit, #1776 American Eagle, which had the short hood painted to resemble an eagle's beak. And with the EMD cab windows, it ends up looking like an eagle wearing shades. This is actually the second ICG #1776, as was the one in the Trains 1975 photoshoot. The original #1776 was involved in a fatal collision with an oil tank truck on March of 1975 that left that unit badly burned and damaged and forced ICG to scramble and repaint and renumber another GP38. The second #1776 was complete in June of 1975, only one month before the photoshoot
NickD said:This is the rarest one, Conrail #7776. The idea was for the #7776 to wear these colors for a few years, but almost immediately it was accidentally painted back into Conrail Blue due to a communication error.
On the flip side of Conrail #7776 and it's accidental repaint is Union Pacific #6706, a GE AC4400W that was formerly Chicago & North Western #8804. C&NW #8804 was part of a 35 unit order of 4400hp alternating current wide-cab C-truck GEs that was C&NW's last purchase of locomotives in 1994 before the C&NW was acquired by UP in 1995.
Twenty five years later, #6706 still wears the C&NW yellow and green with UP lettering patched over the top and an old Operation Lifesaver logo as well. All of the C&NW's other AC4400Ws have been repainted and all of the GE Dash-9s have been retired. It is not only the last unit in regular operation on UP still wearing C&NW, but the last unit on the UP wearing the livery of any line other than UP's (excepting Heritage units). Every year or so there is a rumor that #6706 is going to be run through the paint shop and come out with Armour Yellow and Mist Gray, but as of 2020 she is still in C&NW colors, although looking a bit bedraggled at this point.
You almost have to think that at this point Union Pacific crews are making sure that she misses her date with the paint shop. There is also a certain irony to the fact that Union Pacific #1995, the dedicated Chicago & North Western heritage unit, suffered some sort of electrical failure earlier this year that Union Pacific is not certain whether it is economical to fix or not, while #6706 is still running around in original C&NW paint.
Someone did the math and said that if/when #6706 gets repainted, this will be the first time that UP's entire fleet (excluding Heritage units) will be entirely in one paint scheme since the 1980s, when Uncle Pete began his big buying spree.
In reply to NickD :
That reminds me, I was watching Virtual Railfan about a week ago & they were showing horseshoe curve. An NS train came through & one of the locos was painted in Wabash colors & logos, which I didn't realize they were doing.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Yep, Norfolk Southern has a Wabash heritage unit, #1070, an EMD SD70ACe. It looks pretty good.
When I was down in PA, I saw Norfolk Southern #1069, which is the Virginian Railway heritage unit. First and only Class 1 heritage unit I've seen in person so far.
In reply to NickD :
Wow, I see they have a Nickel Plate and Illinois Terminal units! I didn't even realize that NS owned the remnants of IT? Both of them, as well as Wabash, were local railroads back home.
An old IT depot/substation still exists nearby, from their early electrified days.
https://flic.kr/p/9pFffh
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
I knew about the Nickel Plate one. I did not know about the Illinois Terminal one. They also have a Monongahela Railroad one and one for the original Norfolk Southern, both of which are pretty surprising that they even acknowledge. Those weren't exactly huge operations.
I do appreciate that Wabash painted the flags in the correct direction on the sides of the locomotive so that when being run forward, the pole was towards the front with the flag flowing behind it. Lehigh Valley, for whatever reason, painted the flags backwards, so that the flag was towards the front of the locomotive and the pole was towards the rear, which would make no sense if it was a real flag.
I think the best-looking Heritage Unit is UP #1996, which is for Southern Pacific, and pays homage to both the Daylight and Bloody Nose paint schemes.
I also really like the Amtrak Genesis that they painted in the old Phase 1 paint scheme that Amtrak used in their early years.
Nick, what can you tell me about Budd's Pioneer trucks? They are distinctive and unlike any bogeys out there. Not so much the implementation, but the mechanicals.
In reply to Appleseed :
The main difference on them is that they have inboard bearings, instead of the outboard bearing journals supporting the ends of the axles. They also use a disc brake, instead of a shoe brake on the rolling surface of the wheel. The Amfleet passenger cars all had shoe brakes added at a later date as a backup.
The Pioneer truck was designed for the Budd Pioneer III EMU cars and originally mounted the disc brakes outboard of the wheels, like in this photo. Also, instead of the traction motors being mounted parallel with the axle and using regular gears, the Pioneer mounted the traction motor 90 degrees to the axle and used a gearbox with bevel gears to redirect the power to the axle. When they depowered them for use on stuff like Amfleet cars or went to bigger traction motors that were mounted in a traditional manner without the gearbox, like on a Silverliner, they moved the disc brakes inboard, which was probably a better place for them. Some versions also replaced the coil spring with an air spring for better ride quality.
The whole design impetus was to build a truck that was lightweight and capable of high speeds. The inboard bearings meant that you didn't have to have the cast frame extend out around of the axles, making them lighter and more compact. Lighter weight meant they were less abusive on your infrastructure at high speeds. And the disc brakes hauled them down from the anticipated high speeds much better than little shoe brakes.
The Pioneer truck ended up being pretty successful, racking up millions upon millions of miles on Chicago 2200-series L trains, Amtrak Amfleets, and Budd Metroliners and Silverliners. The Pioneer III EMU itself was not so successful. Only six were built and sold to the PRR. They had some early teething issues and at the time PRR had a glut of GG1s to handle higher speed trains, while the old MP54 EMUs could handle commuter operations. They operated in normal use until 1987 (at some point losing the outboard disc brakes for just tread brakes), then were officially retired in 1990 for lack of PTC and were kept stored until 2000. There were plans to convert them into traditional coaches but that would have meant dealing with those delightful polychlorinated bipheny-filled transformers and they were not American Disabilities Act complaint. Of the 5 remaining cars, 3 went to Pueblo, Arizona for FRA crash testing and 2 went to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA. The ones in Arizona were destroyed, and RRMoPA scrapped their 2 when the transformers started leaking PCB (supposedly the interiors were also completely gutted and the bodies were letting water in)
In reply to NickD :
Look what I found! I guess more of the box survived than I thought.
In reply to 11GTCS :
Oh wow, that sure brings back some memories!
Ooof, this one hurts to read.
For the past 28 years, the Golden Spike chapter of the Railroad & Locomotive Historical society has been chipping away at a restoration on Denver & Rio Grande Western #223. The #223 was a narrow gauge C-16 class 2-8-0 built in 1881 for the D&RGW by Grant Locomotive Works in Paterson, New Jersey. The #223 ended up surviving an 1892 roundhouse fire in Salida, CO, then another roundhouse fire in 1905 and then a collision while being leased to the Rio Grande Southern in 1907 before being retired in 1941. Then in 1942, #223 was leased to Salt Lake City for display before being sold to them in 1952. #223 is historically noteworthy for being one of only 3 surviving D&RGW C-16 Consolidations and one of only 2 surviving locomotives built by Grant Locomotive Works (the other is a Texas & St. Louis 2-6-0, the other two C-16s were built by Baldwin)
It sat in Liberty Park, deteriorating, until 1979 when the city handed it over to Utah State Historical Society. The state commissioned a report to determine restoring the locomotive, but it was found too expensive. In 1992 it was moved to the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden. That same year, the Golden Spike chapter of the R&LHS began restoring the locomotive, at first outdoors and using a boxcar as a shop. In 2006, Ogden gave them the Trainmen's Building to move the restoration indoors and paid for a new roof, alarm system and fluorescent lighting. The entire time the plan was to restore the locomotive to operation and move it to Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in Chama, NM, since Utah has no 36" narrow gauge track still in existence and historically, #223 had never operated in Utah anyways, despite repeated claims by the state that it had.
And then in 2017 everything came to a screeching halt, when the city of Ogden locked the GSR&LHS out of the shops and refused to allow them access to the locomotive. Ogden claimed that the reasoning was that there were fire concerns due to the use of solvents. The historical society pointed out that in the almost 30 years they had been working, they had always disposed of chemicals properly and there had never even been remotely a fire safety issue. The lomotive also became locked up in an ownership dispute, as Ogden was laying claim to it and wanted the state to transfer ownership of it to Ogden, while the state was saying they were going to move it back to Salt Lake City, with no word on if the state would allow the GSR&LHS lay hands on it again.
The official word from the R&LHS is "Some time ago it became obvious that the R&LHS Golden Spike Chapter was not going to be able to continue working on the restoration of D&RGW Locomotive 223 and that we were not going to have access to the Trainman’s Building at Union Station. We made the tough decision to divest ourselves of the tools and equipment that we had accumulated over the 30 years we were working on the restoration. There were thousands of dollars’ worth of tools and equipment that needed to find a new home. As an example, each of the two gantry cranes had been purchased at a cost of $7,000.00."
So they have essentially thrown in the towel and given up on restoring #223 after she has sat apart outdoors untouched for the past 3 years and have donated all their tools and equipment to Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, who they have had a long-standing relationship with and planned to operate the #223 with. Just an ugly, messy situation in the end, and a very rare historical artifact left in limbo.
In reply to NickD :
"I'm gonna restore it someday..." I guess that doesn't just apply to cars does it? I'll bet Ogden doesn't do E36 M3 with 223.
In reply to Appleseed :
Yep, shiny happy people are the same no matter the hobby. Its pretty sad that an engine that survived 2 roundhouse fires and a fatal collision has essentially been killed by bureaucracy. And the worst part is that Ogden doesn't even own the damn thing. And Utah keeps saying the #223 ran in Utah and is therefore a Utah artifact, but it has been proven over and over and over again that #223 never once operated on the Utah section of the D&RGW. Its shocking how many times a city lets an engine go to rack and ruin for decades, never even painting it or putting a fence up around it or a roof over it, and then the second there is rumblings of some group trying to restore it and move it, the city gets all bent out of shape and screams "No, its historically important and a key part of the city, you can't move it out of the city." Oh, if its so important, why not show it at least a little care?
I did see someone play devil's advocate with the #223 situation and can see what they are getting at though. First of all, the GSR&LHS ran afoul of two big mistakes: 1) Don't work on something that you don't actually own or that doesn't have a clear line of ownership and 2) don't work out of a location that doesn't belong to you. You can't be locked out of a facility that you own and you can't be told to stop work on something that belongs to you. Also, there is some doubt on how upfront the group was, that is, did they say from day one that they were going to fix this engine up to take it out of state?
And then sometimes there are even railfans and rail preservationists fighting the other way. I got into a discussion with a gentleman on Reddit who was mad (and I mean mad) that Florida East Coast #148, a neglected pile of rusted out parts strewn about the desert in Colorado that happened to loosely resemble a light Pacific, was restored to operation because in the process they wiped out "historical fabric" and "erased its identity." My response was "Wait, so you'd rather it be left in a heap of scrap, than be fixed up and operational?" and his response was "Yes, because they replaced so many parts that they erased its identity." Uhhh, I'm pretty sure the long list of owners that abused and beat that engine did more of a job erasing its identity, and also, it's not like U.S. Sugar dolled #148 up as a Southern PS-4 or a PRR K-4s. They restored it as a Florida East Coast Pacific. He really did not like me pointing out that since U.S. Sugar had owned #148 from the '30s on through to the late '50s, it wasn't really a restoration, it was just overdue maintenance.
Same thing with Rio Grande Southern #20. I read a diatribe by a guy who was mad that they restored it, because in it's as-preserved condition, it showed the poor maintenance and abuse that the bankrupt RGS heaped on that engine. He was pretty quickly shut up by someone from the Colorado Railroad Museum who said that you could not see how badly ovaled out the connecting rod bushings were or how thin the boiler plate was (the boiler literally deformed when hydrotested) with them on the engine but after they restored it, they kept the old boiler and the old side rods and put them on display to make it easily visible to just how beat that engine was.
I wonder how much "original fabric" people think are in thr frigate Constitution? About 5% I believe.
In reply to LS_BC8 :
Yeah. I know when Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania restored PRR #460, the "Lindbergh Engine" they found parts with serial numbers from twenty-three different locomotives on it. Either PRR had band-aided it together during its operational era or when they were preparing it to donate it was missing parts that they cannibalized.
I have no issue with preserving historical fabric when it is a case of a locomotive of some huge historical import. Like, say the Lindbergh Engine or PRR #7002 (held the US speed record, although the preserved #7002 is not the actual #7002) but when it was just some workaday engine that never did anything noteworthy I don't see getting all up in arms. And a live steam engine will always draw more visitors to a museum or tourist line that one that is stuffed and mounted.
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