Not long ago Milwaukee railfans got a treat when Norfolk Southern’s Pennsylvania Railroad heritage unit came cruising through on an eastbound Canadian Pacific crude oil train. I set out for my favorite spot for an afternoon photo of an eastbound at Grand Avenue (the same location that I shot Amtrak P32 No. 503 on page 4 of the October 2015 issue). It’s a nice spot where the main line follows the Menomonee River in a southward twist and turn between the Miller brewery and Miller Park baseball stadium before turning east again.
After getting the image, I hustled down to West Maple Avenue where it meets the KK River Trail on the south side of Milwaukee for another shot of the train coming under a classic cantilever signal bridge. A few other fans arrived to take in the Tuscan red beauty in gorgeous afternoon sun. As I was walking away, a young man on a bicycle, about 14 or 15 years old, I’m guessing, stopped to ask about No. 8102. “What was that?” he asked. “That was no ordinary train.”
I tried to explain to him in my best laymen’s terminology what a heritage unit is: A retro paint scheme on a modern locomotive designed to appreciate the past. He seemed thrilled to have witnessed such, and asked good questions. “When did it go away?” “How many are there?” Such appreciation for railroading is rare this day and age. The young man may become a fan or a railroader, or maybe neither, but at least for a few moments on a sunny July afternoon, a little PRR Tuscan red caught his eye.
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