- July 2nd, 2006

On July 1st, 2006, the Golden Pacific Railroad's E9A, former Milwaukee Road 36A. Was rolled out of the paint shop at Coast Engine & Equipment (CEECo) in Tacoma, Washington.

The Golden Pacific Railroad chose to have the locomotive restored to it's original Milwaukee Road paint scheme to help preserve the unit's heritage and to help represent the local history of the Milwaukee Road.

The work on the locomotive is still not yet finished. Lettering and the famous Milwaukee Road logo are to be applied to the locomotive shortly.

Please check the Golden Pacific Railroad web site shortly for more photos of the locomotive as the final work progresses and for information on when the public will be able to see this locomotive up close and in action and for more news and other information on the Golden Pacific Railroad and Reading 2100.

News about upcoming special events, excursions, promotions and when ticket sales will be posted as soon as it is available. More information can be found at http://www.gprr.com

Daniel

A little help here please. I know that the original paint scheme for the earlier Milwaukee Road E units (such as the E7's) was orange and maroon. Perhaps by the time the E9's came on line, the CMStP&P had become the passenger train partner (replacing the C&NW) with the Union Pacific and the original paint scheme WAS UP yellow and not orange/maroon. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks.

Les

I'm pretty sure all the Milwaukee Road E9A's were delivered in this paint scheme. Our research showed that 36A was delivered in this paint scheme.

One interesting side note, is that the Milwaukee Road E9A's were some of the 1st. locomotives to have an HEP system installed when built.

Daniel

Can we expect that the Reading 2100 will also be restored to her original livery? It's interesting how quickly the E was painted and how long the easier to do paint job has been put off on the Steamer. How about the F40PH? Any plans to change the green paint on that engine? Why is it green, anyway - was that a lease paint scheme?

2100 will remain, at least for now, the way she is. If it was to be repainted it would be into a GPRR scheme the same applys to the F40PH.. The F40 was painted the way FNLX wanted it. We had nothing to say about it.

Mike

I heard worries about potential ticket prices for this operation. While not exactly the same kind of ride, check out how expensive the Mt. Washington Cog Railway tickets are!

$57.00 per adult. Trips are hourly with a discount for the first and last.

This is a completely different kind of trip to say the least! And there is a destination, a very cool destination.

I'd be happy to pay it today, but I took a few people and treated and it was quite a shock. Great for diehard fans, I think for families, I'd think twice. Maybe so at GP as well. Wish them the best of luck, and an invitation to run her in a more scenic location like Reading /Hamburg, PA.

In Chicago commute service in the early 80's, I happened to ride a train from Union Station to Glenview powered by a MILW E9. It was interesting in that the locomotive's prime movers were running in "constant-speed" style, the operating concept later applied in production 2nd/3rd generation passenger units.