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US Bicentennial rolling stock

HO scale model of MILW 156 in bicentennial livery

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 N&W 1776, preserved at the Virginia Transportation Museum
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)

Sources