Whose bicentinnial scheme lasted the longest in it's patriotic paint? Are there any on the rails currently? (Aside from the NW museum piece)
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ok, I decided to look up Bicentinnial units on railpics and here's what I found
Chicago and West Pullmann had an SW8 that lasted till the early 2000s
Pataspsco & Black River had a Baldwin that lasted into the 90s
Same with a BRC MP15DC.
The Alaska Railroad had an F7 that lasted intot he mid 80s
And the D&H had an RS-3 that did too.
BN's Bincentennial SD40-2 #1876 is still in service as BNSF #1916.
Lyon_WonderBN's Bicentennial SD40-2 #1876 is still in service as BNSF #1916.
But I'll bet it's not still 'in its patriotic paint'. Only locomotives still wearing their Bicentennial schemes or colors are involved.
(Although it is good to know where the survivors are...)
The longest lasting Bicentennial would probably be Aurizon 3136, a 4000Hp 25kV electric built in 1987. I don't know if it ever ran in the green grey and orange, but since Australia's Bicenentennial was in 1988, it soon appeared in green and gold and is still in those colours (although in storage now) today twenty seven (or twenty eight, depending on the repaint date) years later...
It didn't receive any lettering changes when Queenland Railways became corporatised, then privatised and then renamed...
M636C
ndbprrSince it was 1976 that would make one 39 years old and well beyond total depreciation and probably service life. So highly unlikely many even exist at this point and would have needed repainting even if it did.
Uhhh, I don't know about any of the Bicentennial units in particular, but there are hundreds if not thousands of engines built before 1976 still serving on the railroads.
Railroads it that time wouldn't make a special effort to repaint the engine until it's next major shopping, so generally Bicentennial units got repainted by about 1980 or so. As with anything, you can find exceptions.
The Norfolk & Portsmouth Beltline RR painted one of their switchers in a Bi-Centennial scheme and it kept it until sometime around 2000 or so when NS took over and retired the switchers and replaced them with black NS units. It was pretty easy for the Beltline to do because their units were kept in the as-delivered EMD red, white and maroon scheme and they simply replaced the maroon with blue.
The Rock Island's bicentennial E8 #652 "Independence" sat in Silvis IL until the mid 1980s when it was moved and stored for the museum in Baldwin KS. I believe the refurbishing and repainting wasn't done until the mid-1990s. Almost 20 years in r/w/bl paint I'd say. Although it only ran that way for about three (1976 - 1979).
I'm quite sure the Tioga Central still operates their ex-D&H RS-3M #506 (D&H #1776) out of Wellsboro in its somewhat 'tattered' bicentennial livery.
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