"AMERICA" UNITS ON TV, PT1

Today, the 'America' units will be covered by the local news team, in honor of  Sept. 11...

A Norfolk Southern freight rolls into town, with two of their latest locomotives on the head end. Normally, the train would pass right through, but today will be different; this train will meet the America units -on live television!

The local television crew, set up and ready to go, talks with Norman as the units approach.

Meanwhile, the NS train stops for the meet. We don't want to block the camera's  view of today's stars!

The two trains are in the picture! Despite being on a hot west-bound intermodal -DBC47- today the America units will stop in Hillsdale for several minutes for publicity (propaganda) purposes.

As the train comes to a stop, all eyes focus on the head end. Norman and Chris take their places in front of 1776, and talk with the reporter, Herman, about the units, the AP&W, and about 9-11.

AMERICA UNITS PT3

On another pass through town, the three "America" units have yet another west bound GC10KC stack train in tow. And the units have yet another revision to their paint schemes!

1776 now has a large flag decal added to its side; AP&W crews have nicknamed it the "Flag Unit".

1876 now has three stars on its flanks; this is the "Stars Unit".

1976 now has large military insignias on both its sides and its nose. This unit has been called everything from the "Military Unit" to the "Admiral"; one engineer even called it "the Battleship"!

Like many of the Gateway Cherokees, this one has lots of Schneider traffic, with both the traditional orange equipment and the newer white containers. As the train passes by, the yard crew give the train a rolling inspection to make sure there are no problems.

THE AMERICA UNITS PT2

More on the three "America" units...

Engineer Steve Johnson holds his young son as he and his fireman de-train during a crew change. While on a west-bound run to the mid-west, little Sammie got sick enough to require an overnight stay in the hospital; Chris (standing beside him) brought the boy in to meet his dad upon his return. While getting to run the "America" units is an honor, having your son there to greet you when you get off the clock is even better!  The Hillsdale crew is a close-knit team!

The reporting marks have been added. 1776 also has frame stripes now.

Note the "APW" just above the raised walkway.

The "APW" is in gold, railroad roman font.

After their maiden trip across the system and back, the three units were finally given the proper "APW" reporting marks on their sides -but not in their normal locations in the center of the carbody. With the "United States of America" logos in that location, the "APW" was moved to a spot just behind the cab -and just above the walkway on the engineer's side of the engine. Also, instead of the traditional railroad gothic font, the lettering is in railroad roman -and gold instead of white.

And on this Gateway Cherokee, are several cars carrying UPS 28' containers, a rare sight these days. UPS usually ships the containers on chassis like a regular trailer, but the Gateway's fast schedule means that UPS can double-stack it's containers -and ship them for a lower rate! You can also find UPS' new 53' containers on these trains as well.
This is not the end of the "America" units' story. More paint scheme modifications have been added -giving each unit a distinct identity!

THE AMERICA UNITS PT1

Just in time for July, the three new 'America" units!

Shown soon after repainting, the three engines pull into Hillsdale Yard. As usual, the colorful units draw a crowd!

The first unit is numbered for the nation's founding year, 1776 (ex-9617). This is usually the lead unit of the trio.

The second unit is 1876 (ex-9648), often the "middle child".

The third unit is 1976 (ex-9720), which does lead on occasion.

The trio pass through town with train GC10KC, the west-bound Gateway Cherokee. Repainted from the AP&W's 2006 GE order, they are three of 150 ES44AC's delivered to the road. And why were they repainted in the first place? Because 2006 was the 5th anniversary of the 911 attacks, so the railroad decided to honor both the nation's resilience and the military with the units (alot of ex-military and reserve personnel work for the railroad). This also explains the units' assignment to the priority intermodal train; it runs to and from New York City. They can also be found on the Chicago-D.C./Baltimore intermodal train; both trains also pass about 30 min south of the Flight 93 crash site.
 At this point, none of the engines have the AP&W logo, but that will soon change!