These are two locomotives painted in the early AP&W scheme. They are both Kato SD40's. 3174 has a Cannon& Company high-hood. At the time I did these units, I envisioned a fleet of high-hooded locomotives, but didn't have the skills -or the patience- to do the modifications. While I did convert some engines, this was the only one that made it to the painting stage. Of course now, some 15 years later, the model manufacturers are doing high-hoods left and right! The sceme shown is the original one I came up with, and represents the late 80's era, after the 1986 merger.

The AP&W was "created" in 1986 by the merger of several railroads; the Appalachian; the Memphis, Chattenooga and Knoxville; the Central Carolina; the Allegheny Central; the Frisco; and the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton. Other "predecessor" roads include: the Interstate RR; the Durham & Southern; the Tennessee, Alabama & Gadsden; the Chicago & Eastern Illinois; the Chicago Great Western; the Monon; the Virginian; and the Chicago & Alton. The "system" also includes former Tennessee Central, Rock Island and Erie Lackawanna lines as well.

The primary traffic for the system is intermodal, with it's 'Golden Triangle' of Chicago-Atlanta-Jacksonville (Fl), Chicago-New York, and New York-Jacksonville, Fl. main lines. In the 90's, the AP&W spent a lot of money upgrading these lines, as well as purchasing a large number of new locomotives and intermodal equipment to support this traffic; today this investment is paying off with faster schedules and increased traffic. The AP&W also moves alot of coal, grain, chemicals, and auto traffic- although this is currently in decline due to the economy. In fact, the reason I selected 2007 as my end date is due to the reduced auto-related traffic, including the closure of the Ford truck plant in Norfolk- I purchased several Athearn Auto-Max's and Atlas Thrall Bi-levels to handle this traffic.