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!
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