One of my infamous ‘many questions’ posts…
Were there any rules or criteria in relation to these?
Was it an organized program from the start, orwas it a fad of sorts, where one started andthen they al decided to?
Why were many of them later repainted?
Lastly, B&M and Conrail, and MILW and Long Island (excepting a few details) were nearly identical in color. Was there a reason for this?
Thanks,
Steven
Steven, (KBC Pres.)
I suspect that your question is aimed at the topic of the various railroads and their involvement in the celebration of the American Bicentenial Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the
not 
?
I don’t recall every seeing anything about any coordination between the railroads. but that was some 40 years ago. Many of our current forum participants either weren’t born yet, or were still in knee pants.
Each locomotive so decorated was probably the pride and joy of its creators. Some may have liked another railroad’s scheme so much that they copied it, or may have simply nearly duplicated it by accident.
It made for some interesting spotting for a while.
Steven, (KBC Pres.)
I am making an assumption that you are referencing the 20th Celebration of the American Bicentenial adoption of the Declaration of Independence (Oficially, was July 4th,1976).
I am also making another assumption that you were probably not born during that time? Those were times that were very trying for America…Vietnam was rapidly disappearing in the passage of time. It left a lot of deep scars in the American psyche; particularly, for those who fought in Vietnam. We returned to a less than stellar welcome from our country ( understatement(?). You can read about it in many places, or ask someone you might know about it.
The Bicentenial was a product of Politicians in Washington, to try and heal some of the scars in our National psyche. It started roughly in 1966 with a proposal of a single national celebration to be in Boston. All that was pretty foggy, at the time…I was in college, getting married, and going on USMC active duty, and arriving in S.E. Asia.
The Ford Administration pushed it (The Bicentenial) to be a National Celebration, It seemed as if everything was represented and promoted as part of the Bicentenial Celebration. Red, White and Blue was everywhere. Patriotism was definitely on display. It was an amazing time, of Parades and Celebrations.
The railroads participated by painting Locomotives and other equipment in the Patriotic Pant schemes (featuring,Red White and Blue), The American Freedom Train was toured all over the country. ( powered by Steam and some diesels: SP4449,RDNG2100, T&P610, )
See link @ http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/gallery/aft.html
Or link @ http://www.railpictures.net
I lived through it as a kid (luckily, no normal boy was wearing knee pants by the 1970s - we wore jeans or shorts), and didn’t quite realise at the time how crassly commercial it was till years later, when I read an old Punch Magazine from the era which labeled it the “Buy-Buy-Bi-Centennial”; I reflected upon that and come to a “Oh, yeah” moment.
(I think I escaped the era with only a large novelty (10cm) Bicentennial quarter I got during a class trip to Philadelphia).
Ya know, those were different times. All the poets*, they studied rules of verse, and those ladies, they rolled their eyes - Lou Reed.*
Crass commericalism coupled with patriotic fevor (BTW, not limited to the US, UK Queen’s Jubilee? Not sure about the pysche of America after the Bicentennial (I recall something about a “Maliase”), and I honestly can’t say if the country really came together more than any other American holiday…but I did like the Bicentennial minutes…
I suppose somewhere there are Fire Hydrants still wearing their Red/White/Blue schemes of the era (important detail if you are modeling the US in the mid-late 1970s).
Parts of the celebration may have been crassly commercial (although I am not sure I care what a British humor magazine thinks about anything dealing with America or the revolution) but there was nothing particularly commercial in what the railroads did to paint select units in Bicentennial paint schemes. That was at their expense and to no evident profit other than a bit of good PR. And watching the American Freedom Train be pulled by 4449 at speed along the Mississippi River was free!
Moreover many small towns and cities across America used the opportunity (and there may have been some government seed money involved as well) to write up local histories even if the town, village or city did not date back to 1776. In many cases those local histories are invaluable resources for model railroaders seeking period data about a particular place. It is surprising how many local history books and pamphlets are dated 1976. Check the local library.
I seem to recall Kalmbach/Trains convinced a number of railroads to assemble their Bicentennial units in one place for a group photo that was in the magazine and became a poster. Which they crassly sold for money, to the annoyance of the British evidently.
Dave Nelson
I believe it was a bit of a fad that caught on. Conrail had four, but two were the EL ones that were painted before April 1, 1976. The GG1 was an ad-hoc effort by Harrisburg shop using vending machine coffee cups for the design inspriration. I don’t know the genesis of the U34CH paint scheme, but I was surprised to see it sitting in Hoboken coming back from “Operation Sail” on July 4th.
The whole “fad” was started by John Hawthorne who was CMO of the SCL at the time. He had one of their U boats painted in the RWB scheme on delivery from Erie. It graced the cover of one of the “Spotters” guides. His son later (in the '90s) had two locomotives at Pueblo painted in the same scheme.
I remember the Bicentennial very well. I was a Marine lieutenant at the time and was home for the festivities in my home town. Wore my dress blue “C” uniform to the town parade and got more than my share of “eyes right!” from the passing veterans groups. A fife and drum band played “The Marines Hymn” when they passed me.
Lady Firestorm was with me, we were engaged at the time. I imagine the sight of a Marine with a hot young thing on his arm wearing a tube top and short shorts must have done wonders for the recruiting office in the following days!
I had a ball, to say the least!
Yes, the Bicentennial was a lot of fun. At least, it was a lot more fun than the Civil War sesquicentennial which has come and gone with hardly a burp. And no-one seemed to pay any attention at all to the War of 1812 bicentennial.
Back to Bicentennial decorated locomotives. Some were well done, some not so. Conrail’s Bicentennial GG1 looked to me as if it was designed by someone doing LSD! Downright strange.
Dittos to what that poster said about “Who cares what ‘Punch’ magazine had to say about the Bicentennial celebrations?” I suppose they didn’t care to be reminded of a “losing season.”
It took me a moment to realize what the OP meant by 'Bicens." I did not, however, imagine he meant a certain heavy quadruped.[:)]
Contrary to some of the comments the bicentenial was a big deal. There was no coordination between railroads. Most ran employee contests for the designs and it got them free publicity so why not. As to why the mentioned companies used blue there are only so many ways to paint with red white and blue. Natural choice for conrail and B&M as they used blue for their equipment. There were a few that were ugly with the gg1 at the top if the list. DT&I was another ugly one in my opinion. I bet the Santa Fe could have done something cool using the war bonnet scheme. They became dated wit hin a couple of years kinda like Y2K and there was no reason not to repaint them. It required a good deal of accounting work to renumber them to 1776 or 1976.
Quoting Firelock76: ‘Dittos to what that poster said about “Who cares what ‘Punch’ magazine had to say about the Bicentennial celebrations?” I suppose they didn’t care to be reminded of a “losing season.”’ [:D]
1812 Bicentennial? I don’t remember it, though one of my great-great grandfathers was shot by one of the invaders in December of 1814.
I do remember the train that toured the country in 1976; the SP engine brought it here.
Western Pacific’s were a direct copy of those on the Burlington Northern with few exceptions, UP had E9 9051 painted for the Preamble Express, and how many cab units wore Bicentenial Paint besides Alaska RR and UP? Actually I thought the GG1 wasn’t too bad, compared to say the KCS which sponsored a contest among school childern with the final result appearing as if a Crayola box had exploded.
Dave
Deggesty, this is getting interesting. Which invaders? The Americans who invaded Canada, or the British who invaded the US?
Actually I thought the Rock’s E8 was one of the best and the IC’s 2 (not at the same time) the most imaginative.
The invaders who landed at Tappahannock, Virginia, in December of 1814, and burned the tannery, among other things, there.
I was 19 in 1976. The country was in a blue funk then, after Nixon and the debacle in Vietnam. We were desperate to have something, anything to celebrate, and the Bicentennial was a good excuse to feel good about our country. It was something the country needed.
Hmm, sounds like British Rear Admiral Cockburn’s doing. He was raising quite a bit of cain up and down the Chesapeake in 1814, culminating with the burning of Washington.
Try and find a co
Well if you want talk about bison, I have a question about those too…
anyone ever had a bison burger?
imagine what the moderators would say if i were to blatantly disregard trains and instead discuss wildlife.