Looking as sweet as ever. I'm guessing her repainting has something to do with the big NS 30th birthday celebration.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 867&nseq=0

VMT won the Trains magazine preservation award to have it repainted. NS was supposedly just the low bidder for the job.

http://blogs.roanoke.com/arts/2011/11/v ... 76-engine/

Conspiracy theory alert!

Maybe NS bid low because of the want to show continued support to VMT, celebrate their heritage and showcase their excellent PR department.

Now, where did I leave that flak jacket....

Naah. They wanted to practice specialized, non-standard paint jobs on someone else's loco before they go to work doing a whole bunch of special paint jobs on their OWN locos. >;-D

NS did a wonderful job with that engine, they even replaced the missing roof fans and some of the other external missing parts, along with some running gear work on it. They may have been the low bidder since they are set up to specifically paint locos than maybe some of the other places that were asked.

This is the only high hood SD45 I'm aware of that still exists.

1776 was painted at Chattanooga. Juniata is the other paint shop.

Ok, lets clear up some of what you guys have been talking about...First off let’s all recognize that the 1776 looks great after its recent attention it has received. Now let’s give credit where credit is due.

Over recent years the 1776 was stored just beyond the car shed in the rail yard of the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Some years ago it did get a basic paint job in the likeness of its former glory as the N&W 1776. In recent times more or less over the last year key members of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS have been working behind the scenes to put the 1776 back together again for a planned repainting. At the time a year or more ago it was unclear who was going to paint the 1776 but a capital campaign was started by the museum to raise funds for the upcoming refurbishment. The 1776 was also submitted locally and nationally for grants and contest for funds to contribute to its upcoming repainting; as well locally the Virginia Museum of Transportation was holding fund raisers for funds for the 1776. The Roanoke Chapter and other groups were contributing time and funds to the project. I believe over $8K was raised for the 1776 by the museum and local preservation groups. Key Members of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS took upon themselves to locate and collect the correct roof fans needed for the unit the cab doors, the grid covers of the car body new windows and window tracks, handrails as well as many other parts that contributed to the overall complete look of the Locomotive and the Repainting! I know for a fact how much the Roanoke Chapter did to pull this locomotive together before it even left Roanoke as I helped on some of the parts instillations. After all the prep-work was done the unit was pulled from the museum and taken to Shaffer's Crossing (One of the locomotive shops in Roanoke) where is was brought up to snuff making the brakes function and to make the "Dead-in-toe" loco ready for its trip to Chattanooga and back uneventful to say the least.

As for Norfolk Southern getting to paint the loco, simply put they were the only ones asked. NS was approached with the idea of repainting the 1776 after the Museum won the Trains $10K award, and with the funds now close to $20K the museum really wanted to repaint this unit right. Before it would have been nice but now it was going to be great as we can now see. NS worked out a deal with the Museum basically stating that they would collect what funds the museum had up to that point for the 1776 and they would donate the rest. And the result of everyone’s efforts can now be seen in the end product. The 1776 has made it journey back the Roanoke but is not back on display yet, it is being stored indoors at the Roanoke East End Shops till it is formally unveiled on National Train Day in May. So as said before let’s give credit where credit is due, all the donors, the Roanoke Chapter Members who wanted it right before it even made it to the paint shop and lastly Norfolk Southern for the donation of the balance on the paint job and the quality work itself! Well done to everyone.

Sometimes you look at something, and you look at it, and you look at it again, and then you remember. . .

I seem to recall seeing this unit, in black, in a dead line of locomotives at Radford, Va., perhaps in the 1980s or early 1990s; I may even have a photo of it somewhere. It was right on the end. I remember looking at it, looking at that number, and recalling it had been in Bicentennial paint, and thinking it should be preserved, but here it is, likely waiting for scrapping. Can anyone confirm that the unit was there, dead, for a time?

And did anything else make it out of the dead line? I also recall a bunch of GP9s in the line as well.

Did any of the high-hooded General Electrics of either SR or N&W make it into preservation, or even a high-hooded Alco?

Needless to say, I'm glad it's still around, and that it has gotten its Bicentennial paint scheme back. Now, I wonder if a sister unit is still around somewhere, one that can be painted black with that NW herald that looked like someone just went up and down with a paint roller to make the initials. . .man, that was ugly, perhaps worse than the (in)famous "mating worms" of the Penn Central, but as so many have observed, this was part of our history, too. . .

"I seem to recall seeing this unit, in black, in a dead line of locomotives at Radford, Va., perhaps in the 1980s or early 1990s; I may even have a photo of it somewhere. It was right on the end. I remember looking at it, looking at that number, and recalling it had been in Bicentennial paint, and thinking it should be preserved, but here it is, likely waiting for scrapping. Can anyone confirm that the unit was there, dead, for a time?

And did anything else make it out of the dead line? I also recall a bunch of GP9s in the line as well.

Did any of the high-hooded General Electrics of either SR or N&W make it into preservation, or even a high-hooded Alco?"


1776 was in Radford. Several of the GP9's made it into shortline service, and "Redbird" passenger Geep 521 is at VMT. As for high-hood Alcos, VMT is home to C630 1135 also.
Here is a shot of her taken in January, after repainting but before lettering

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2878752

Lest the "foamites" complain, the shade of blue was matched to the original N&W "Pevler Blue" drift charts from the N&WHS.

Thanks Gary for putting the paint on the alco issue to rest. Some people just wont leave it alone. I think she, as well as the SD45 look amazing. Great job to everyone involved.

Are there plans to do anymore equipment?

N&W RS3 #300 and CW T6 #10 are up next, both should be done by early summer. Over at 9th St, we're still working on CW DS4-4-660 #662, we're hoping to finish in June, weather permiting. Our Facebook page has a restoration album on the progress on this unit. It was in a bit rougher shape than the others.........

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?s ... 749&type=1

Yes........there is a four axle high hood former Southern GE at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Don't forget the few -7s and U23Bs still kicking around on the Georgia Central,Some on G&W, and FIMX has a few. They may be off the class ones, but there still are plenty of high hood GE's earning their keep.

As is so often the case, discussions get me curious, and get me started looking around. . .

First, a look at that scheme I called "ugly;" I still haven't changed my opinion of it, but again, it's part of the heritage, and should be remembered on appropriate locomotives:

Am I mistaken, or does this Alco C-630 have FM trucks under it?

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=187156

Of course, this one looked better in yellow and black, when it was bought by the Virginian:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1048209

The 1776, as I remember it, but in service:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=821914

Studies in blue, and C-628s and C-630s at that:

Is it blue, or black?

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=705013

Is it blue, or is it some version of Brunswick green? A new engine, and on what looks like FM trucks again:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2008226

Is it blue, or something else--and it's a new 1135!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2008231

She looks great, but I can sure understand how the "foamites" can get worked up:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2878753

Goes to show you how color perceptions can be different, how film may or may not register color or continue to register color correctly, maybe differences in film vs. digital color reproduction, or who knows what else. . .

That's a nice thing about black, provided it's dressed up a bit with, say, Southern's "aluminum" stripes, gold lettering, maybe some white striping (think of Kansas City Southern's diesel switchers and road switchers very early on); if it's kept clean, it can look really good, and you don't have to worry about matching it too much!

Now, this is what black should look like!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striderv/2 ... /lightbox/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striderv/2 ... /lightbox/

Have fun.

All of the N&W C630s had trade-in FM trucks from the earlier trainmasters.

A few N&W/VGN trainmasters still survive today as cut down slugs on NS and in museums