Nostalgia & History > commemorative units

The recent UP 4141 thread got me interested in the whole concept of commemorative units in general. To me, this practice dates back to the Bicentennial craze. To recognize the bicentennial is all fine and good, but all the crazy schemes used to decorate units was, well, crazy to me. There is not a one of them I liked. So, when UP came up with their idea to honor some of it's fallen flags I was at first excited. Then I saw the units unveiled, to my disappointment. They were not fallen flag units, but painted in a scheme reminiscent of those fallen flags, but not even close to those former schemes. So, a big swing and a miss, I thought. A nice idea, but very poorly executed. I wasn't encouraged by the NS announcement of it's heritage unit program, but was very pleasantly surprised to see the results. The only problem, and this is seriously nit picking of me, was that some of the schemes did not fit so well on the diesel models used, but still, this was a job done very well. I think UP stuck it's foot in it when it got political though, both with 4141, and it's display of faux-ultra-patriotism, as though they alone are the John Wayne/Ronald Reagan of railroading. I do not think any one President can be memorialized on a unit without opening itself to charges of favoritism, true or not. I am not interested in UPs position on this or why they did this, just that it was wrong, in my opinion. It would be equally wrong to memorialize any other President. If one is to do something like that, the B&O offers the only appropriate solution, as mentioned in that 4141 thread, the President series of 4-6-2 Pacifics, they honored the first 20 Presidendts. I can see doing that, or honoring all of them, but to single any one of them out is a huge mistake, and smacks of favoritism. I will make an exception for the UP camo unit, by my own reasoning, I should be opposed to this one too, but have to admit I think it to be pretty cool. Remember folks, I'm talking units here, not politics. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

What about UP 2001/2002 or UP 1896/1996.

UP 7400, UP 2010, CR 6707 (Yellow Ribbon), BN 1991, CR 6726 (Olympic Bike Trials). NS 6930, NS 6920, NS 3215, NS 4610, SP 7347, SP 7342, SP 7399. There are plenty of freight cars you could talk about. Wisconsin & Southern boxcars, Air Force, Sargento, Never Forget 9-11 and the couple others.

Honestly I don't see what the big deal is with 4141. I'm sure the Library came to the UP asked about doing a unit in the paint scheme as well as other details and thats where it is today. Honestly sure the UP heritage units weren't exactly what everyone expected, but its not your railroad and they wanted to do something outside of the box which most people cant fathom or accomplish anymore.

Heck, since UP can not do any right by a lot of people, mothball everything, stuff and mount it, and anything that isn't a freight unit get rid of and paint it all yellow and grey.

UP isn't the first, nor will be the last to do these types of units. And I'm sure there are others I have missed.

Chris



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/14 16:21 by EspeeGoldenState.

Espee, Please, Sir, there is no intent here to start a gripe session...and I hope this thread does not devolve into a general UP complaint list....those who want that might start their own thread, thank you. No I'm hoping to hear opinions about commemorative units (not freight or passenger cars either) in general, throughout the business. To respond to your remark, no, of course I don't run the UP or have any stock or any other interest, but that does not prevent me from having and expressing opinion, or, in this case, taste. To boil it all down, I'd say that the NS did their commemorative unit program very well, in the manner I, at least, think it is best done, whereas UP did it differently, appearing to me that they hired an ad agency to make up something attractive, instead of historically correct as the NS did. My opinion only, "your mileage may vary" as they like to say. As for Presidential units, I apologize for including them in this discussion...hits way too many hot buttons. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

I guess you took my reply as hostile, it was not. My point is, there is plenty of unique per say units out there. NS didn't come up with the idea on their own, Andrew Fletcher got that ball rolling. Had the UP not came up with doing the six heritage units would the craze ever started? Sure Haverty brought back the Warbonnet to Santa Fe and the Retro Bell to KCS, but that's fleet wide, not heritage units per say. FEC has gone retro as well with its Champion paint, but also has at least one pink and blue unit for breast cancer. Amtrak's heritage fleet isn't 100& accurate per say either but fits the P42s just fine.

It's just not railroads that do unique paint schemes, NASCAR owners have done it for years, same for the trucking industry.

I have issues coming on TO over the years and seeing people complain about what the UP didn't do right or what they did right but wasn't good enough for the fan community. The steam discussion board should be renamed Politics and Steam with all the mudslinging that goes on over there. It wasn't until NS came out with the 20 units that people really started to criticize the UP heritage units even more-so. It was to pay homage to the six roads that comprise the majority of the current UP system.

A link to UP's press bulletins about most of the current commemorative units:
http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/commemorative/index.htm

Going back to your block of text in both your posts, I can kinda see where you are going but its difficult.

Norfolk Southern honors the states it serves on the sides of its OCS fleet, BNSF does significant things on its route or previous figures in its history. Union Pacific honors a multitude of things on its business fleet from employees, namesake trains, cities it serves, and famous individuals. Union Pacific also put plaques on the noses of SD60Ms and C44-9Ws (and others I think) years ago.

Going back to the 4141 example, at least Union Pacific had the courage to do such a unit considering the hot bed that politics in America is and they keep it in pristine condition.

What I truly don't understand with the breast cancer units is why don't we have a blue ribbon for prostate cancer or testicular cancer? I don't see the fad of commemorative units going away any time soon though it will probably not be from Union Pacific as it seems Norfolk Southern has taken over that role as it seems like it trying to out do UP.

Chris