Snipped from Trains.com and edited for brevity:

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — TRAINS magazine’s annual $10,000 Preservation Award will go to the Virginia Museum of Transportation for the cosmetic restoration of Norfolk & Western Bicentennial diesel locomotive No. 1776. The magazine announced the award Saturday night during the annual banquet of the Association of Railway Museums/Tourist Railway Association Inc. in Chattanooga.

The project will ensure that this significant forerunner of today’s modern high-horsepower freight locomotives shines in a dazzling coat of fresh red, white, and blue paint by the time of the nation’s 236th birthday on July 4, 2012. The Roanoke, Va., museum plans to use special paint on the unit, which will be key to special events related to the 30th anniversary in 2012 of N&W successor Norfolk Southern. The locomotive will be displayed under a shelter the museum is preparing to build.

TRAINS magazine chose the project from a record 120 submissions this year, double the number of applicants, showing strong interest in railway preservation projects and a continuing need to support efforts around the country. This is the 12th year for the preservation award, which has contributed $120,000 to boost projects around the country, from archives and stations to passenger and freight cars and locomotives.

The Electro-Motive Division of General Motors built No. 1776 in 1970 for use on N&W’s heavy-duty freight railroad, and the locomotive became one of the first of many diesels decorated in a patriotic scheme to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. Today, it is among a handful of units left in their commemorative schemes from 35 years ago.

More about the unit and the grant will be published in Trains' February 2012 issue’s preservation column.

Great news! I'm sure it'll look fabulous in its fresh paint along with the other items there recently getting attention.

Ryan