Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednsday: Roanoke patriotism visits Topeka

By 1975, to help celebrate America’s upcoming 200th birthday there were dozens of RRs both large & small who had painted up select units in their rosters with patriotic-themed paint schemes. Several industrial outfits even got into the act. In nearly all cases the resulting paint scheme had a red, white & blue theme. It was quite a fun time for railfans a generation ago.

A couple of years after the memorable July 4, 1976 milestone there were still quite a few bicentennial paint jobs running around the countryside. In January of 1978 I finally caught a couple of R/W/B paint jobs on 35mm slide film. In the same week I found AT&SF 5704 at Lebo, KS and N&W 1776 in Argentine. In March of 1978 Bill Gibson caught N&W’s contribution rolling through Topeka on an ordinary freight train. Enjoy!

1. N&W 1776 in Bicentennial livery leads a UP manifest by the old passenger depot in Topeka, KS.

2. Roster shot of same.
(2 photos by William A. Gibson Sr. on April 13, 1978)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/22 21:42 by santafe199.

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Great photos from Art of the N&W Bicentennial but check out that brand new auto boxcar with the double plug doors. Wow!

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

It's amazing how much this area has changed since then. Every singe building visible in theis picture has been razed. The old lumber yard, Rodney Milling, the grain elevator, all of it.

Wondering if those were set up with long end first, or dual controls? We might be looking at the Engineer instead of the Brakeman. In the early Roadrailer run through days at KC, NS would send them over with a wrong end first unit, and our Engineers hated them.

ddg Wrote:
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> Wondering if those were set up with long end
> first, or dual controls? We might be looking at
> the Engineer instead of the Brakeman. In the early
> Roadrailer run through days at KC, NS would send
> them over with a wrong end first unit, and our
> Engineers hated them.

I believe these had dual controls so the engineer
could have been on the correct side of the engine.
I've seen photos of this engine running long hood
forward as well.

During the 1993 flood, I managed to shoot an NS detour
at Clinton that had a GE without the dual controls
running short hood forward and the engineer on the
right side of the cab. That was certainly different.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

That was during the UP l978 lease of N&W power. Nice! I kept hoping that it would have shown up in the Santa Fe leased group - then you might have seen bi-centennials from two roads in one consist.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

What a Great catch! Kudos to the fuel track foreman who put that engine on the point:}

YES!!!

- Jeff