Heritage unit

A heritage unit or commemorative locomotive is a railroad locomotive painted in an honorary paint scheme; usually the paint scheme is that of a now-defunct railroad that merged with or was acquired by the locomotive's owner.

UP 1983 is an EMD SD70ACe owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and painted in the Western Pacific Railroad scheme, one of the 6 railroads acquired by Union Pacific.

Amtrak GE P42DC locomotive #145, which is painted in Amtrak's Phase III scheme, and is one of 16 Amtrak heritage units

Among North American railroads

Heritage units are popular among North American railroads. As of 2023, all major Class I railroads have official heritage units, except for BNSF Railway.^{[lower-alpha 1][1][2]}

The Union Pacific Railroad painted six EMD SD70ACes in stylized paint schemes of six of its predecessors between 2005 and 2006.^[3] The Norfolk Southern Railway did the same in 2012 with 20 of its locomotives for its 30th Railroad Anniversary.^[4] 10 of them are EMD SD70ACes, while the others are GE ES44AC units. For its 40th anniversary in 2011, Amtrak painted four GE P42DCs, a P40DC, and an EMD F40PH converted to an NPCU into its older paint schemes. Several more were painted for its 50th anniversary in 2021.^[5]

In 2019, the Canadian Pacific Railway, now Canadian Pacific Kansas City, painted nine EMD SD70ACU units in a maroon and gray paint scheme with a different font style. In late 2020, the Canadian National Railway revealed five new heritage units after they had been first spotted a month earlier. These included four GE ET44ACs and one EMD SD70M-2. They were painted in honour of the 25th anniversary of CN's initial public offering.^[6][7] Beginning in 2023, CSX revealed its first of many heritage units, ES44AH 1827 with a Baltimore & Ohio paint scheme.^[8]

List of heritage units

ES 499.0001, actual running number 350 001-4, of the Slovakian Railways (ZSSK) in its factory paint scheme. Railway companies in Europe have also taken up this practice.

CC 201 83 31 of the Kereta Api Indonesia (formerly CC 201 69), the first of the national railway's main line locomotive to use honorary paint scheme, sporting the railway's 1953-1991 paint scheme since 2021.^[9]

Norfolk Southern 1074 is an EMD SD70ACe owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway, painted in the Lackawanna scheme, one of the 20 railroads acquired by it.

Below is a list of heritage units in active service by various railroads.

Railroad	Road number	Paint scheme	Locomotive model
Alaska Railroad	4328	F-Unit Scheme	EMD SD70MAC
Amtrak	161 (formerly 156)[lower-alpha 2]	Phase I	GE P42DC
	130 (formerly 66)	Phase II
	145	Phase III
	160[lower-alpha 3]	Dash 8 Phase III "Pepsi Can"
	164 (formerly 184)	Phase IV
	46[lower-alpha 4]	Phase V (Connecting America for 50 Years)
	108[lower-alpha 5]	Phase VI (Connecting America for 50 Years)
	100[lower-alpha 6]	50th Anniversary - Midnight Blue (Connecting America for 50 Years)
	90406	Phase III	EMD NPCU (former EMD F40PH)
	822[lower-alpha 7]		GE P40DC
	301[lower-alpha 8]	"Day 1" livery	Siemens ALC-42
Ann Arbor (Watco)	3879	Ann Arbor	EMD GP38
Canadian National	600	Classic CN Green	EMD GY430A (slug)
	601	Illinois Central
	3008		GE ET44AC
	3023	Elgin, Joliet & Eastern
	3069	Wisconsin Central
	3115	BC Rail
	7600	Classic CN Green	EMD GP40-3
	7601	Illinois Central
	8952	Grand Trunk Western	EMD SD70M-2
Canadian Pacific Kansas City	3084	CP Tuscan red and grey (script writing)	EMD GP38-2
	7010–7014	CP Tuscan red and grey (script writing)[10][lower-alpha 9]	EMD SD70ACU
	7015–7019	CP Tuscan red and grey (block writing)[10]
Central Maine & Quebec Railway	9017[lower-alpha 10]	Bangor & Aroostook	GMD SD40-2F
CSX	1-3	Baltimore & Ohio	EMD F40PH
	1827	Baltimore & Ohio	ES44AH
	1834	Georgia
	1836	RF&P
	1850	Louisville and Nashville
	1851	NC&St.L
	1852	Western Maryland
	1853	New York Central
	1869	Chesapeake and Ohio
	1871	Atlantic Coast Line
	1875	Pittsburgh and Lake Erie
	1877	Chicago and Eastern Illinois
	1897	Monon
	1899	Pere Marquette
	1900	Seaboard Air Line
	1902	Clinchfield
	1967	Seaboard Coast Line
	1972	Family Lines System
	1973	Chessie System
	1976	Conrail
	1981	MEC
	1982	Seaboard System
East Midlands Railway	43102	InterCity (British Rail)[11]	British Rail Class 43
Genesee & Wyoming	1899	G&W "Whisker Stripes"	GE Dash 9-44CW
	125		EMD GP38-2
Iowa Interstate Railroad	513	Rock Island	GE ES44AC
Locomotive Services Limited	43046	Midland Pullman	British Rail Class 43
	43055
MBTA Commuter Rail	1129	1980s-era MBTA (maroon with silver bar)[12]	GMD GP40MC
Metra	90	Chicago & North Western[13]	EMD F59PHI
	104	City of Chicago	EMD F40PH-3
	211	Burlington Route[14]	EMD F40PHM-3
	402	State of Illinois[15]	MPI MP36PH-3C
	405	Milwaukee Road[16]
	425	Rock Island[17]
	500	RTA[18]	SD70MACH
Metro-North/CTDOT	201	Conrail	GE P32AC-DM
	208	1980s-era Metro-North
	211	New York Central
	217	Penn Central
	228-231	New Haven
NJ Transit	1319	Lackawanna	Arrow III
4109	Jersey Central[19]	EMD GP40PH-2
4101	New Jersey DOT[20]
4208	Conrail	EMD GP40PH-2B
4210	Erie
4519	Erie Lackawanna[19]	Bombardier ALP-45DP
4636	Pennsylvania[19]	Bombardier ALP-46A
4640	1980s-era NJT
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway	3024	Silver and Red Stripe	EMD SD40-2
Norfolk Southern	1065	Savannah & Atlanta	EMD SD70ACe
	1066	New York Central
	1067	Reading
	1068	Erie
	1069	Virginian
	1070	Wabash
	1071	Jersey Central
	1072	Illinois Terminal
	1073	Penn Central
	1074	Lackawanna
	1700	Erie Lackawanna	EMD SD45-2
	8025	Monongahela	GE ES44AC
	8098	Conrail
	8099[lower-alpha 11]	Southern
	8100	Nickel Plate Road
	8101	Central of Georgia
	8102	Pennsylvania
	8103	Norfolk & Western
	8104	Lehigh Valley
	8105	Interstate
	8114	Norfolk Southern (1942–1982)
Ontario Northland	1730	Classic ON Scheme	EMD SD40-2
SEPTA Regional Rail	280, 293	Reading Lines	Silverliner IV
304	Conrail
401	Penn Central
276	Pennsylvania Railroad
Union Pacific	1982	Missouri Pacific	EMD SD70ACe
	1983	Western Pacific
	1988	Katy
	1989	Rio Grande
	1995	Chicago & North Western
	1996	Southern Pacific

See also

• Heritage Units

Notes

1. Although BNSF released several commemorative celebrating their 25th Anniversary, which featured logos of predecessor railroads, these are not considered as heritage units. BNSF also has several units in older “Warbonnet", “Bluebonnet”, "Cascade Green", and "Grinstein" paint schemes, but these are generally also not considered heritage units.
2. 161 has 50th Anniversary markings
3. 160 has 50th Anniversary markings
4. 46 has 50th Anniversary markings
5. 108 has 50th Anniversary markings
6. 100 has 50th Anniversary markings
7. Out of service as of June 2021
8. 301 has 50th Anniversary markings
9. 7011 wrecked in a derailment on April 15th, 2023.
10. 9017 has been reacquired by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (then known as Canadian Pacific) following the 2020 CMQ acquisition
11. Wrecked in 2021, repaired and returned to service in 2023)^[21]

References

1. "CN heritage locomotives sighted, but company won't comment". Trains. 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
2. "Canadian National Puts New Heritage Units into Service". Railfan & Railroad Magazine. 17 November 2020.
3. Our Heritage
4. "Norfolk Southern's Heritage Locomotives". Archived from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
5. Adapting the Heritage Paint Schemes
6. "CN heritage locomotives sighted, but company won't comment". Trains. 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
7. "Canadian National Puts New Heritage Units into Service". Railfan & Railroad Magazine. 17 November 2020.
8. "Baltimore & Ohio heritage locomotive is the first of many to come, CSX confirms". Trains. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
9. https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2021/11/12/193000065/mengenal-lokomotif-ka-livery-vintage-jadul-akan-menyapa-lintas-jakarta ^{[bare URL]}
10. Franz, Justin (16 September 2019). "Canadian Pacific releases two SD70ACU heritage locomotives". Trains. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
11. Repaint for record-breaker as EMR marks end of HSTs Rail issue 926 10 March 2021 page 30
12. "News photo: MBTA's 'Cranberry' locomotive". Trains. 2024-09-05. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
13. Guss, Chris (August 18, 2020). "Metra unveils C&NW heritage locomotive".
14. "Metra unveils Burlington-themed heritage unit".
15. "Metra unveils State of Illinois-themed heritage unit".
16. "Metra unveils Milwaukee Road-themed heritage unit".
17. "Metra unveils Rock Island-themed heritage unit" (Press release).
18. "News photos: Metra unveils first SD70MACH (Updated)". 19 October 2022.
19. "NJ Transit reveals heritage locomotives". Trains News Wire. October 5, 2019.
20. Franz, Justin (2022-10-14). "NJ Transit Paints GP40PH-2 into DOT 'Bluebird' Scheme". Railfan & Railroad Magazine. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
21. "Train derails in Baldwin; East Carson, River Road closed as clean-up commences". 12 December 2021.