In the mid-1970s, America celebrated its bicentennial. The well known bicentennial year of 1976 saw a large number of items repainted into special commemorative red, white and blue liveries. The railroads of the time got into the act, with a great number of them participating. Trains magazine managed to get a photo of many of these bicentennial locomotives in one photograph when they were gathered in Chicago. I got to talking about them a little with a friend over the weekend, and we started wondering about the entire bicentennial roster. So, instead of guessing about it, I did a little research and came up with a mostly comprehensive list (there are probably a couple of locomotives still unlisted) for all US railroads that participated.
While I would love to copy all of the images here and display them directly on this page, copyright restrictions prevent me from doing that. Instead, where an image exists and there isn't a reproduction-allowable license version, there is a link to the image in the appropriate cell below.
Locomotives | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Railroad | Road number/name | Locomotive model | Engineer side image | Fireman/conductor side image | Notes |
Alaska Railroad | 1510 | EMD FP7 | (image) | (image) | |
Alaska Railroad | 1512 | EMD FP7 | (image) | (image) | |
Aliquippa and Southern | 1208 | EMD SW1200 | |||
American Cast Iron Pipe Company | 103 | Fairbanks-Morse HH660 | |||
Apache Railroad | 200 | Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 | |||
Apache Railroad | 201 | Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 | |||
Apache Railroad | 800 | ALCO RS-32 | |||
Apache Railroad | 900 | ALCO RS-11 | |||
Apache Railroad | 901 | ALCO RS-11 | |||
Ashley, Drew and Northern | 176 | EMD SW1200 | |||
Bangor and Aroostook | 1776 Jeremiah O'Brian | EMD GP7 | (image) | ||
Belt Railway of Chicago | 534 | EMD SW1500 | (image) | (image, image) | |
Bessemer and Lake Erie | 853 | EMD SD18 | |||
Boston and Maine | 200 | EMD GP38-2 | |||
Buffalo Creek | 46 | Baldwin S2 | |||
Burlington Northern | 1776 | GE U30C | (image) | ||
Burlington Northern | 1876 | EMD SD40-2 | (image, image) | (image) | |
Burlington Northern | 1976 | EMD SDP-40 | (image) | ||
Butte, Anaconda and Pacific | 778 | GE E20 | |||
California Western | 55 | Baldwin RS-12 | (image, image) | ||
Cambria and Indiana | 36 | EMD SW9 | |||
Central Vermont | 1776 | EMD GP9 | |||
Chicago and North Western Railway | 1776 | EMD GP9 | (image) | ||
Chicago, West Pullman and Southern | 41 | EMD SW8 | (image) | Kept the bicentennial livery as late as July 2003 (image) | |
Colorado and Wyoming | 200 | EMD GP7 | (image) | ||
Conrail | 1776 | GE U34CH | (image) | ||
Conrail | 4800 | GG-1 | (image) | ||
Conrail | 7776 | EMD GP38 | |||
Continental Grain | 1528 | ALCO S4 | (image) | ||
Cotton Belt | 9389 | EMD SD45T-2 | (image, image, image) | (image, image) | |
Cuyahoga Valley | 1284 | EMD SW1200 | |||
Delaware and Hudson | 506 | ALCO RS-3 | (image) | ||
Delaware and Hudson | 1776 | GE U23B | (image, image) | ||
Delaware and Hudson | 1976 | ALCO RS-3m | (image) | (image) | |
Delaware and Hudson | 2312 | GE U23B | |||
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton | 1776 | EMD GP38 | (image) | ||
Detroit and Toledo Shore Line | 76 | EMD GP7 | |||
Durham and Southern | 2000 | EMD GP38-2 | (image) | (image) | |
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern | 668 | EMD SD38-2 | (image) | ||
Erie Lackawanna | 3632 | EMD SD45 | (image) | ||
Erie Lackawanna | 3638 | EMD SD45 | (image) | Became Conrail 6669, remained in bicentennial paint until at least May 1979 (image). | |
Frisco | |||||
Grand Trunk Western | 1776 | EMD GP38 | (image) | (image, image, image) | |
Hercules | 77 | EMD SW | (image) | ||
Hillsdale County Railroad | 1976 | EMD NW2 | (image) | ||
Houston Belt and Terminal Railway | 1 | EMD SW9 | |||
Illinois Central Gulf | 1776 | EMD GP38 | (image) | (image) | |
Indiana Harbor Belt | 1976 | EMD SW1200 | (image, image) | ||
Indianapolis Union Railway | 200 | EMD SW1500 | |||
Inland Steel | 76 | EMD SW1 | |||
Island Terminal Company | 603 | EMD SW | (image) | ||
Kansas City Terminal | 76 | EMD SW9 | |||
Laurinburg and Southern | 76 | GE 70-ton | |||
Long Island Rail Road | 252 | EMD GP38-2 | (image) | ||
Lubrizal | 20 | Baldwin S4 | |||
Milwaukee Road | 156 | EMD SD40-2 | (image) | (image) | |
Missouri-Kansas-Texas | 200 | EMD GP40 | (image) | ||
Missouri Pacific | 1776 | EMD GP18 | (image) | ||
Missouri Pacific | 1976 | EMD GP18u | |||
Norfolk and Western | 1776 | EMD SD45 | ![]() Photo from Flickr user Mr. Beaverhousen, released under Creative Commons non-commercial share alike license. (image) |
(image) | Preserved in bicentennial livery at the Virginia Transportation Museum |
Patapsco and Back Rivers | 147 | Baldwin VO-1000 | (image) | ||
Pittsburg and Shawmut | 1776 Betsy Ross | EMD SW9 | (image) | ||
Railway and Industrial Services | 76 | Whitcomb 35-ton | (image) | ||
Rock Island | 652 | EMD E8 | (image) | ||
Santa Fe | 5700 | EMD SD45 | (image) | ||
Santa Fe | 5701 | EMD SD45 | (image, image) | ||
Santa Fe | 5702 | EMD SD45 | |||
Santa Fe | 5703 | EMD SD45 | (image) | ||
Santa Fe | 5704 | EMD SD45-2 | |||
Seaboard Coast Line | 1776 | GE U36B | (image, image) | (image) | |
Seaboard Coast Line | 1976 | ||||
Soo Line | 1776 | EMD GP35 | (image, image, image) | ||
South Buffalo Railway | 76 | ALCO S2 | (image) | ||
Southern Pacific | 3197 | EMD GP40P-2 | (image, image, image, image, image, image) | (image) | Was used in daily commute service south of San Francisco |
Southern Pacific | 4449 | GS-4 | Was one of the original locomotives on the 1976 American Freedom Train; was repainted back to AFT colors in the 2002 (2002 image) then repainted back to its original Daylight colors. | ||
Southern Pacific | 6800 | GE U25B | (image, image, image, image) | ||
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis | 1207 | EMD SW1200 | (image) | ||
Texas and Pacific | 610 | 2-10-4 | (image), later operated for a few years on Southern Railway. | One of the original steam locomotives to be restored and operated for the 1976 American Freedom Train. | |
Toledo, Peoria and Western | 700 | EMD GP30 | (image, image) | (image) | |
Union Railroad | 17 | EMD MP15 | (image) | ||
Union Pacific | 951 Preamble Express | EMD E9A | (image, image) | ||
Ventura County Railway | 4 | GE 70-ton | (image) | ||
Western Pacific | 1776 | EMD GP40 | (image, image, image, image, image) | ||
Western Pacific | 1976 | EMD GP40 | (image) | (image) | |
Yankeetown Dock Corporation | 1976 | EMD SD38 | (image) | ||
Youngstown Sheet and Tube | 805 | Baldwin S8 | (image) |
Other rolling stock | |||
---|---|---|---|
Railroad | Road number | Builder/type | Photos/notes |
Alaska Railroad | 1776 | center cupola caboose | (image, image) |
CTA | Elevated railway electric multiple unit trains | (image) | |
Frisco | 1776 | Extended vision caboose | (image, image) |
Georgia Railroad | 2869 | Bay window caboose | (image) |
Gold Coast Railroad | 0322 | Center cupola caboose | (image) |
Missouri-Kansas-Texas | 76 | Extended vision caboose | (image) |
Norfolk and Western | 1776 | coal hopper | (image) |
Norfolk and Western | NWZ 1776 | 40' trailer | (image) |